US President Donald Trump has backed down from his hostile anti-Iran stance because American people are not actually behind him, according to US scholar Dr. Kevin Barrett.
Last week, Trump ordered the assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), while threatening to carry out numerous more attacks against Iranian targets across the country.
Trump to everyone’s surprise unexpectedly backed down from his hostile threats against Iran after US bases in Iraq were attacked by Iranian missiles following the assassination of its popular general .
Barrett told Press TV in an interview on Saturday that Trump’s unpopularity among the Americans had forced him to back down against the adamant Iranian nation.
“Trump has backed down because he knows that the United States people are not really behind him,” according to Barrett.
Barrett noted that “53% of the American people disapproved of the President’s handling of relations with a country that we just went to war with.”
He said such lack support for a US president by the American people was unprecedented in US history.
“I don’t think that has ever happened before in US history, “he said, adding, “It just goes to show how unpopular Donald Trump is here in the United States.”
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll had found that most American adults disapproved of Trump's ant-Iran policy.
Analysts say Trump's ordering Soleimani’s assassination meant to serve as a “diversion” for the American president, who is presently grappling with an impeachment inquiry.
The inquiry was launched by the House Democrats in September after Trump reportedly tried to find dirt on Joe Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, by pressuring Ukraine and later tried to obstruct Congress from investigating the matter.