Azadi Tower in Tehran. Photo: ALBATROUS, via Wikimedia Commons. File photo — not a photo of Wednesday's events.
Iran's government on Wednesday savoured the Democrats' sweeping victory in the US midterm elections, declaring that American voters had rejected the war launched by President Donald Trump — even as Tehran remained on high alert for the possibility of renewed American strikes.
Democrats captured majorities in both the Senate and the House in Tuesday's vote, a result driven in large part by frustration over the economy and a war that has driven up fuel prices. Trump himself has acknowledged that the conflict played a role in his party's defeat, and his vice president, JD Vance, was blunter still, writing on Wednesday: "The reason we lost is the war."
A message of "NO TO WAR"
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is also Iran's chief negotiator, posted on X: "Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message." He added that Washington should not ignore public opinion by attacking his country again, and warned that if the US government betrays the public will, "it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson also posted that Americans had sent a clear message, and warned Washington against ignoring it.
Khamenei: no change in US hostility
Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, struck a more sceptical note in a written statement marking the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran. He said those who think partisan changes in the United States can change its hostility toward Iran are "gravely mistaken," and warned 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. He also said the consequences of American miscalculations had become "a heavy burden of costs, borne by the American people and the puppet regimes subservient to the US government." Khamenei has not been seen publicly since the war began in late February, when US-Israeli strikes killed his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Tehran on high alert
Behind the public celebration, Iranian leaders remain braced for what comes next. Two senior Iranian sources told Reuters that while Tehran welcomed the Democrats' victory, it was concerned that Trump could seek to compensate for the defeat with a military strike, and remained on high alert. Trump declined on Tuesday to rule out a resumption of combat operations after the vote, even as Qatar has intensified mediation efforts to end the war.
Senior Iranian officials had told Reuters ahead of the election that Tehran was deliberately prolonging talks with Washington to weaken Trump politically before the vote — a claim that could not be independently verified and which Tehran has not confirmed publicly.
The anniversary march
Thousands marched through Tehran on Wednesday to commemorate the anniversary of the 1979 embassy takeover and to celebrate the US election results. Demonstrators burned American and Israeli flags and chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," displaying effigies of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Iranian newspapers echoed the mood. The major daily Hamshahri ran a front-page image of Trump blindfolded with his head bowed, under the headline "Iran's shadow over US elections," declaring Washington had been "47 years Iran's captive." The conservative newspaper Jam-e Jam declared the result "The twilight of Trumpism."
What happens next
The new Democratic Congress will not take office until January, and until then Washington's policy has not formally changed. But Democrats have promised to use their control over government funding to press for an end to the war, and to investigate the administration's conduct of it. For Tehran, the election has changed the political weather around the conflict — without yet settling whether the war ends at the negotiating table or resumes on the battlefield.
Sources: Reuters, "Iranian officials gloat as US voters deal blow to Trump," November 4, 2026; Associated Press, "Iran's leaders say midterm results show US voters have rejected Trump's war," November 4, 2026. Claims attributed to unnamed Iranian sources are reported as Reuters sourcing, not independently verified facts.