Iranian leaders welcome US midterms, but Trump may still attack

Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities are painting the sweeping midterm election defeats for United States President Donald Trump’s Republican Party as a repudiation by the American public of the war on Iran. “If the US [government] betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” read a post on his X account on Wednesday.

Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the head of the Iranian judiciary, said: “Trump was defeated in both war and politics” and promised that the Islamic republic will impose more defeats. Trump has been talking about the possibility of attacking Iran for weeks, but says he hasn’t made a decision yet, as a US naval blockade, sanctions and trade disruptions are also heavily pressuring the country.

Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, said the electoral defeat of Trump’s Republican Party will increase pressure to end the Iran war, but it does not rule out further strikes.