Iran’s Khamenei says any hopes for US policy shift after midterms ‘seriously mistaken’
In written message, supreme leader said to warn of 'wider' scope to war if it is renewed; Ghalibaf says Americans voted ‘NO TO WAR,’ as other officials celebrate political blow to Trump
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Wednesday that anyone expecting a shift in US policy, after midterm elections dealt a blow to President Donald Trump, was “seriously mistaken.”
“Those who still harbor even the slightest hope that the behavior of the hegemonic system might change through partisan or factional shifts, or who imagine that making concessions to the United States can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, are seriously mistaken,” said Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard in public since his appointment eight months ago, according to a written statement published on his website.
Democrats seized control of the US Congress in Tuesday’s midterms, reflecting anger over living costs, tariffs and the US war against Iran, which has sent fuel prices soaring.
Khamenei’s remarks came with diplomatic efforts underway to avert renewed fighting in the war, which was launched by the US and Israel on February 28 in a bid to destabilize Iran’s regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
In June, Iran agreed with the United States to a memorandum of understanding laying out a pathway to a permanent settlement of the conflict, only for the deal to quickly unravel as each side accused the other of violating it.
The sides have traded intermittent blows and been locked in a stalemate ever since.
“Should such aggressions be repeated, the war’s scope will become much wider,” said Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since he took power in March.
Khamenei, 57, was named supreme leader after US-Israeli strikes at the start of the war killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The new leader has since communicated through written messages and has not been seen or heard, amid reports he was badly injured in the strike that killed his predecessor.
Earlier, Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Americans had voted against war.
“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” he posted on X.
“If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” Ghalibaf said, adding that Washington should not ignore public opinion by attacking his country again.
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also hailed the election results, saying Trump had been “defeated both militarily and politically.”
“We will certainly inflict further defeats on him,” he added.
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,” a reference to the southern state where a Democrat won a Senate race for the first time in decades.
Major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri published a front-page image showing Trump blindfolded with his head bowed.
With a headline declaring “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 conservative Iranian newspaper Jam-e Jam declared the election result “The twilight of Trumpism.”
But two senior Iranian sources told Reuters that while Iranian leaders welcomed the Democratic Party’s victory, Tehran was concerned that Trump could seek to compensate for it with a military strike, and remained on high alert.
Reacting to the election result on Wednesday, Trump told Fox News in an interview: “I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time people understood the importance of what I’ve done with Iran.”
Iranians mark US embassy takeover by burning Israeli, American flags
The anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran was also marked in Iran on Wednesday, with thousands of people parading through the Iranian capital to commemorate the event.
Demonstrators burned American and Israeli flags and chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Effigies of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were displayed alongside caricatures of the two leaders. One depicted Trump as a ferocious dog poised to attack, with Netanyahu holding his leash.
Addressing the demonstrators, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani claimed the US and Israel had suffered a definitive defeat, including in the US midterms.
“The decisive defeat of the United States and the Zionist regime in recent developments and elections is the result of the Iranian nation’s steadfastness and strength,” Zakani said. “Even political rivals in the United States have acknowledged that this failure was the result of the Iranian people’s ingenuity and perseverance.”
On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the US Embassy, taking American diplomats and other citizens hostage. Fifty-two Americans were held for 444 days before being released on January 20, 1981.
The crisis helped cement the rupture between the two countries, which have had no formal diplomatic relations for decades.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.