Khamenei Says Democrats' Midterm Victory Will Not End US Hostility Toward Iran

Khamenei rejects hopes for a policy shift

Khamenei's response to the election came in a statement posted on his website on Nov. 4, 2026. He called those expecting partisan changes in Washington to alter US behavior, or concessions to end its hostility toward Iran, "seriously mistaken."

The statement marked Iran's National Day of the Fight Against Global Arrogance, according to Al Jazeera. Observed annually on November 4, it commemorates the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran.

Khamenei, 57, became supreme leader in March after US-Israeli strikes at the start of the war killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He has not appeared in public since taking power and has communicated through written statements.

EFE reported that, as of September, he had issued no audio or video message since becoming leader on March 8. By early September, he had released 21 written statements. Analysts described a more collective Iranian leadership in which the Revolutionary Guard played a dominant role.

Election losses and competing reactions

Tuesday's election gave Democrats both chambers of Congress amid voter anger about living costs, tariffs and the war against Iran, which has driven up fuel prices. Along with winning the House of Representatives, Democrats flipped at least seven Senate seats: Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to Al Jazeera and AP News.

Trump acknowledged that the war contributed to Republican losses but defended his decision to launch it. "I did the right thing. I would have done it again," he told The Wall Street Journal.

Earlier Wednesday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the US, portrayed the result as a rejection of the war. "Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message," he wrote on X.

"If the US government betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare," Ghalibaf added.

Iranian judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also celebrated the outcome, describing Trump as "defeated both militarily and politically." He added: "We will certainly inflict further defeats on him."

Warnings of wider fighting

US and Israeli leaders have recently threatened to attack Iran again. Khamenei warned in his statement: "Should such aggressions be repeated, the war's scope will become much wider."

He also claimed that Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz had shattered the "myth of America's invincibility." He characterized the elimination of US military bases in countries across the region as a response to American "aggression and crimes" during the war.

Separately, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Nov. 4 that four oil tankers had struck naval mines and caught fire while attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The corps said it had halted two other vessels.

Despite the recent threats, Trump told the Financial Times on Nov. 3 that he had no immediate plans for new strikes. The US was "locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it," he said. The standoff had kept global oil prices 60% to 70% above their prewar levels.

Mediators seek a deal after earlier agreements falter

The war opened on Feb. 28, 2026, with Operation Epic Fury, a joint US-Israeli operation that killed Ali Khamenei. Pakistan brokered an initial US-Iran ceasefire on April 7-8. A memorandum of understanding followed in June, but Trump declared it effectively over in July.

Diplomatic efforts to prevent renewed fighting were continuing as Khamenei issued his warning. As of Nov. 4, Qatar, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were mediating indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Qatari mediators expected both sides to respond within 36 hours to new proposals intended to bring them closer to an agreement ending the war.