For much of Tuesday, it was unclear whether the United States would launch a full-scale attack on Iran’s civilian infrastructure.
But US President Donald Trump’s threat to Iran that “the entire civilization will perish tonight” drew condemnation from one of Generation Z’s most prominent activists.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Swedish advocate Greta Thunberg expressed regret at what she described as the slow response from the public to President Trump’s threats.
Ms. Thunberg, known as an activist on issues such as climate change and Gaza, linked Mr. Trump’s comments to broader issues about passivity in the face of war crimes.
“The president of the United States said tonight that an entire civilization will perish and never return,” Thunberg said in an Instagram video on Tuesday, just before the ceasefire was announced.
“And no one responds. That says it all. What the hell is anyone doing at this point?”
She called on viewers to stop such rhetoric from becoming the status quo.
“We have normalized genocide, the complete annihilation of entire humanity, the systematic destruction of the biosphere on which we all depend for survival, and we have normalized the ability of corrupt, racist war criminals to act with total impunity,” she said.
“But even if you’ve allowed too much to happen, it’s never too late to say stop.”
Experts say there is a generational gap between how the United States and Israel view the war against Iran.
In the United States, polls show that young people are more likely to express skepticism about war and support broader intervention by Israel and the United States.
Skepticism about intervention
Gen Z will not be the first generation to oppose wars that their elders tolerated.
Similar divisions have been documented throughout U.S. history, including during the Vietnam War in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
However, recent opinion polls show significant opposition to the current war against Iran among young people.
A poll released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center found that young people across the political spectrum are more skeptical about the war’s prospects for success.
The same was true among President Trump’s right-wing supporters. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans ages 65 and older believe a war would make Iran less likely to develop a nuclear weapon, compared to just 25% of Republicans ages 18 to 29 who said the same.
When asked about the impact the war would have on Iranians, only 7% of older Republican voters said their lives would be worse off. This percentage dwarfs the roughly 28 percent of young voters who believe the same.
Democratic-leaning voters weren’t particularly divided by age, Pew said, but younger voters tended to be more pessimistic about the war.
About 60% of young Democratic respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 feel that war will make life worse for Iranians, compared to just 48% of Democrats over 65.
Similar trends have been recorded by other polling organizations since the outbreak of war on February 28th.
On March 20, Emerson College also released a survey showing that young Americans are more likely than older respondents to fear the outbreak of war. Nearly 75% of people under 50 thought a new world war would occur within the next four years, while 54% of people over 50 shared that belief.
Meanwhile, the publication Politico found a disparity in a poll of men who identify as “MAGA Republicans,” part of President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” political movement.
Only 49% of respondents in this category under the age of 35 believe that President Trump has plans for war against Iran. This was much lower than the 70% of over-35s who felt the same way.
continuing trend
Generational rifts are also reflected in opinion polls on other recent conflicts.
Opinion polls reveal significant opposition to foreign intervention among young Americans, a trend some critics link to the historical context of their upbringings.
Many Gen Zers grew up in the shadow of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, part of the broader “war on terror” launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Another Pew Research Center poll conducted in December 2025 suggests that young people are becoming more isolationist.
They found that only 39% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 think it is important for the United States to play an active role in world affairs, compared to 73% of respondents over 65.
Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza is also causing backlash among Gen Z, according to the pollster.
Since the war began in October 2023, human rights experts have documented multiple violations of international law and gross human rights abuses, including forced starvation, mass killings of civilians, and withholding of humanitarian aid.
Tuesday’s poll suggested that 84% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans between the ages of 18 and 29 have a negative view of Israel.
For people over 50, the numbers were significantly lower at 76 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
Thunberg has also been outspoken about the atrocities taking place in Gaza.
Last year, she joined a humanitarian convoy launching aid to Gaza. In October of the same year, she was arrested by Israeli forces and deported.
