Iran Leaders React to Trump Midterm Election Losses
Iranian officials celebrated Democratic gains in the U.S. midterms while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned that foreign policy remains under presidential control.
Leaders in Iran, Spain, and South Africa celebrated the defeat of Donald Trump's party in the U.S. midterm elections, where Democrats gained at least 28 House seats and flipped seven Senate seats. In Tehran, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Mayor Alireza Zakani described the results as a decisive defeat for the United States.
Despite the celebrations, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei cautioned that those expecting partisan and factional shifts in Washington are gravely mistaken, noting that the president retains control over foreign policy. This tension follows U.S. defensive strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island conducted on November 2.
International reactions varied, with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez viewing the results as a shift in global relations. Meanwhile, leadership in Moscow and Kyiv noted that the primary levers of power remain with the U.S. administration regardless of the legislative shift.
