Iranian officials have mocked Donald Trump after the American President was left red-faced by the midterm election results. The historic midterm election saw Democrats take control of Congress, with the rival party securing both the Senate and the House of Representatives in a major blow for Mr Trump.
Republican Senate seats were lost in Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, Ohio, Maine and North Carolina. Voters highlighted their frustrations with the cost of living, tariffs and rising energy prices. Following the results, Mr Trump claimed on Truth Social that Republicans would have won by a landslide if he had been on the ballot.
Iran celebrates US election outcome
With Iran waiting to see how the results could affect the ongoing war, the country’s officials are in celebration mode. The broader region has been on edge over the prospect of the US resuming full-scale military operations against Iran for the first time in almost two months.
“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, wrote on X, previously known as Twitter.
With talks aimed at preventing renewed fighting ongoing, other US allies in the region are urging Washington against resuming full-scale operations in the war. Beginning months ago, it has not only had a dour effect on the global economy, but has devastated Iran.
Leaders respond to the results
It is reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed for more strikes, while Mr Trump has alternated between threatening major strikes and pushing for a deal. Military confrontations have continued in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz in spite of ceasefire agreements and repeated diplomatic efforts.
According to Iran’s supreme leader, those who think partisan changes in the United States can change its enmity towards the Islamic Republic are ‘gravely mistaken’. In a letter shared on his social media account, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since the war began with US and Israeli strikes on February 28, said: “If there are still those who harbour even a slight hope for a change in behaviour or partisan and factional shifts within the system of domination, or who imagine that by giving concessions to America they can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, they are gravely mistaken.”
Strait of Hormuz tensions continue
On Monday (November 2), the US carried out what appeared to be a limited strike on Iranian targets in the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway. Iranian state media reported explosions on the islands of Qeshm and Hengam and near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.
A major area of tension is the Strait of Hormuz, which has witnessed repeated incidents involving commercial shipping. Since the conflict began, Iran has severely restricted shipping through the strait, while the United States has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran’s deputy parliament speaker, Ali Nikzad, compared the Republican election losses to Washington’s policy towards Iran. He told politicians on Wednesday (November 4) that US sanctions had failed to break Iran’s economy or force its people to surrender.
“The enemy’s efforts to bring down Iran’s economy have failed time and again. These defeats are the aftershocks of defeat at the hands of the Iranian people,” he said.
Anniversary of embassy takeover
The midterm election results arrived on the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran. Thousands of people paraded through the Iranian capital to commemorate the event. Demonstrators were seen burning American and Israeli flags and chanting ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel’. Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani claimed the United States and Israel had suffered a decisive defeat, including in the US midterms.
Iranian students stormed the US embassy, taking American diplomats and other citizens hostage on November 4, 1979. Fifty-two Americans were held for 444 days before being released on January 20, 1981.
