The massive electoral wipeout Republicans suffered on Tuesday did not go unnoticed by Iran’s leadership.
According to Politico, Tehran took a victory lap as voters dealt a resounding blow to President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.
“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X as the results came in.
Ghalibaf, who has played a prominent role in negotiations to end the monthslong war, also threatened retaliation if Washington resumes all-out fighting, Politico is reporting.
“If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” he wrote.
Tehran had been anxiously watching the midterms for weeks. According to Politico, Iranian negotiators reportedly even stalled recent talks to keep gas prices high and fuel voter frustration with the Trump administration over affordability.
Iranian state media also had a field day as Democrats flipped both the House and the Senate, according to the report.
“War on Iran Emerges As Major Factor in Republicans’ Midterm Defeat,” read one headline from Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
State-run IRNA led with a headline announcing a “heavy defeat for Trump and his supporters,” citing “an unprecedented level of dissatisfaction with US President Donald Trump,” driven in large part by the war.
Some anti-war voices in Washington also declared the vote a win for Tehran, Politico also reported.
“The Democrats didn’t win the midterms,” wrote Trita Parsi, co-founder of the anti-interventionist Quincy Institute. “Iran did.”