Published : 04 Nov 2026, 08:43 PM
Updated : 04 Nov 2026, 08:43 PM
Iran's government welcomed the rebuke delivered to Donald Trump in the midterm elections, saying US voters had rejected the war launched by the president even as Tehran remained on high alert for possible renewed strikes.
"Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said No To War, and we endorse this message," Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator, posted on X, warning Washington against ignoring public opinion by attacking Iran again.
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that US hostility would persist regardless of which party was in power, warning against "even the slightest inclination towards submission" to the US.
"The US sees the end of its hegemony as distant; we see it as near," he added.
Old Foes
Democrats captured majorities in both the Senate and House in Tuesday's election, with victories in Republican strongholds reflecting frustration with Trump's handling of the economy and his decision to launch a war that drove up fuel prices.
In Iran, a news outlet run by the judiciary shared a joke circulating on X that "Trump failed at regime change in Iran but he succeeded in Texas", referring to the southern state where a Democrat won a Senate race for the first time in decades.
But two senior Iranian sources told Reuters that although Tehran welcomed the Democrats' victory, its leaders feared Trump could respond with a military strike and remained on high alert.
Iran's leaders have long regarded the United States as their main enemy, referring to it as "the Great Satan".
At a state-organised rally on Wednesday marking the student takeover of the US embassy in Tehran during the 1979 Islamic revolution, demonstrators celebrated an election result they linked to Iran's survival of months of US attacks.
"The fact that the might of these warmongering Republicans has been broken, something unprecedented in human history, means that from now on we will see the real war unfolding inside the US Senate and among American officials," said one demonstrator, who gave only his family name, Nazari.
Mediators have stepped up efforts to end the war amid fears it could reignite after the election. Trump declined on Tuesday to rule out resuming combat operations, while Iran has planned wider retaliation if fighting resumes.
The US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb 28, and Iran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf states hosting US bases. Conflict also erupted in Lebanon between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, and later spread to Yemen, where the Iran-aligned Houthis have struck energy facilities, airports and other targets in Saudi Arabia.
Global oil and gas prices have surged as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted after Tehran declared it closed. The US has also imposed a naval blockade on Iran, hitting its economy hard.
Iran's Shadow over US Elections
Ahead of the US election, senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran was deliberately prolonging talks with Washington to weaken Trump politically before the vote.
Some news outlets highlighted that the election fell on the anniversary of the embassy seizure, when radical students stormed the US embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, cementing the overthrow of the US-backed Shah.
Major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri linked the events in a front-page image showing Trump blindfolded with his head bowed.
Under the headline "Iran's shadow over US elections", it said Washington had been "47 years Iran's captive: from the capture of the spies' nest (US embassy) to the November 2026 US Congress elections".
The Iran war has been unpopular among Americans since it began, and the Democrats' campaign focused on blaming it for rising costs.
Khamenei's message signalled that Tehran had no intention of softening its demands for lasting control over the Strait of Hormuz or its conditions for ending the conflict.
"The consequences of (US) miscalculations and arrogant delusions have manifested as a heavy burden of costs, borne by the American people and the puppet regimes subservient to the US government," he said.
Trump has offered shifting goals and timelines for the war, which is now in its ninth month.
"I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time people understood the importance of what I've done with Iran," Trump told Fox News, referring to the election result.
The conservative Iranian newspaper Jam-e Jam declared the election result "The twilight of Trumpism".
