CGTN survey finds majority view US-Israeli strikes as violations of int’l law and source of widening global divisions
US President Donald Trump holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 26, 2026. PHOTO: REUTERS
A global survey launched by CGTN shows that 89.6% of respondents believe the Iran conflict has left the US increasingly isolated in the international community. The survey was released across CGTN’s English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian platforms. Within 24 hours, 13,731 netizens took part in the poll and shared their views.
According to Pouria Kolivand, Iran’s deputy permanent representative to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), more than 1,700 people have been killed, 22,800 injured, around 3.5 million displaced, and over 81,000 civilian facilities damaged or destroyed in Iran since the start of US and Israeli attacks.
Iran’s Pouria Kolivand, the stationed representative of the Ports and Maritime Organization and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic at the International Maritime Organization, referring to Iran’s full adherence to the rules and rights governing the seas,…
— CGTN Europe (@CGTNEurope) March 9, 2026
In the poll, 92.4% of respondents agreed that the US-Israeli military operations have seriously violated international law and the basic norms of international relations.
The war has driven a wedge between the US and its traditional allies, who have stayed on the sidelines. President Donald Trump said this lack of support had implications for NATO, the West’s most important alliance. The survey finds that 88.2% of respondents believe the Iran conflict has widened divisions between the US and its traditional allies.
“We would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don’t have to be, do we?” Trump told an investment forum in Miami on Friday. “Why would we be there for them if they’re not there for us? They weren’t there for us.”
Trump on Thursday urged Iran to make a deal to end US and Israeli bombing or face more strikes on their country. According to the poll, 88% of respondents believe the US is using military coercion and maximum pressure against Iran during negotiations. Meanwhile, 94.2% believe the US-Israeli strikes against Iran have further destabilised the situation in the Middle East.
“They now have the chance, that is Iran, to permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and to join a new path forward,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
“We’ll see if they want to do it. If they don’t, we’re their worst nightmare. In the meantime, we’ll just keep blowing them away.”
Trump spoke after a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday that Washington’s proposal for ending nearly four weeks of fighting is “one-sided and unfair”, but that diplomacy continues.
Trump said Iranians were talking with the US and described them as desperate to make a deal, characterisations Tehran has denied.
Trump suggested that a deal might not ultimately come together. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that,” he said of the prospects for a deal. I don’t know if we’re willing to do that.”
Read: Trump calls Strait of Hormuz the ‘Strait of Trump’
The trajectory of the war remains as unclear as the aims of starting one in the first place. Its spillover effects are immense with rising oil costs indefinitely.
In the US, where Trump is politically vulnerable to rising fuel prices, diesel in California hit a record average high of $7.17 a gallon, the American Automobile Association said.
Trump has appeared eager to wind down the unpopular war, emphasising this week what he called productive negotiations aimed at a diplomatic solution – despite repeated assertions from Tehran that no such talks have begun.
On Thursday, Trump extended a deadline by 10 days for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks against its civilian energy grid. 82.8% worry that the spillover effects will continue to spread.
Many countries around the world are actively pushing for mediation, and 72.3% of respondents approve of these efforts, believing they serve the interests of the countries concerned and echo the shared aspirations of the international community.
