Iran’s Ghalibaf: ‘Americans Said No to War’
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that American voters have said “no to war,” referencing the crushing defeat of Republicans in the US midterm elections, and warned the US government that it would face a “nightmare” if the conflict continues. “Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Ghalibaf wrote 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.”
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
The article never says that Vice President Vance wrote 'The reason we lost is the war' and that Trump called this 'largely true'. Without it a reader may take Ghalibaf's 'Americans said no to war' as an Iranian reading alone, when US leaders conceded much the same on the same day.
How we know
- MSNBC reported“"The reason we lost is the war," Vance wrote.”Vance says Republicans lost control of Congress because of Iran war (opens in a new tab)
- The Independent reported“Mr Trump himself acknowledged that the war with Iran may have contributed to his party’s electoral losses.”Iran leads global reactions to Trump’s midterms disaster: ‘Americans are saying no to war’ (opens in a new tab)
Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, also commented on the election results, saying that Iran had imposed a “political defeat” on President Trump. “The Iranian nation handed Trump a strategic defeat on the battlefield and in the Hormuz—and a POLITICAL DEFEAT in Washington,” Rezaei wrote on X . “Meanwhile, Americans got stuck with the bill for his war. Anyone who takes on Iran will pay the price—from the battlefield to their own doorstep.”
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf sits at the speaker’s desk holding papers with Iranian flags behind him at the Islamic Consultative Assembly in Tehran, Iran, on October 25, 2026 (ZUMA Press via Reuters Connect) A statement from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned against hoping the election results would change US behavior. “If there are still those who have even the slightest hope for a change in behavior or political and partisan shifts in the system of domination, or imagine that by granting concessions to America they can dissuade it from hostility toward the Iranian nation, they are seriously mistaken,” Khamenei said.
“Even the slightest submissive inclination toward the domineering enemy will squander the great capital acquired through the blood of martyrs and the sacrifices of all sections of the nation, and will embolden the arrogant enemy to make further excessive demands and commit further acts of aggression and war,” the statement added. Iranian officials have maintained they won’t back down on their core conditions for a deal with the US to open the Strait of Hormuz, which include an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports, sanctions relief, and the release of some Iranian frozen funds, all steps Tehran says must be taken before discussing the nuclear issue.
It remains unclear at this point how President Trump will move forward. He has been threatening to restart the full-scale bombing campaign following the midterms, and the US military has moved assets in place to prepare for the strikes. If you liked this article, please support Antiwar.com. We are 100% reader-supported.
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