Iran gloats that Trump's midterm rout proves Americans have said 'no to war' and warns of a 'nightmare'
Donald Trump, pictured with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, whose notably different tones on Iran — Vance voicing optimism over a diplomatic deal — emerged as polls opened on the midterms.Smoke rising from a vessel on open water, as Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned on Wednesday that Hormuz oil flows had fallen to 45 percent of prewar levels amid the ongoing conflict.A US Air Force C-17 tracked over Europe as part of an airlift of advanced air defence systems into southern Israel, as Israel passed intelligence to the US alleging Iran was considering the use of chemical weapons.IRGC Navy missile infrastructure tunnels along Iran's southern coast, as Tehran unveiled a mural calling for the killing of Donald Trump.
Trump himself conceded the Iran conflict was "a piece of it" as Democrats took both the Senate and the House in a blue wave that swept through deep-red Texas, South Carolina, Iowa and Kansas. Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei cautioned that any fresh US military action would be answered on a "much greater scale," arguing that Washington's hostility would continue no matter which party was in office. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the outcome gives the "world an opportunity" to focus on resolving the conflict and easing cost-of-living pressures.
Republicans are pointing fingers at Trump, with one strategist calling him "the engineer of the Republican collapse."
Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf posted that if the US betrays voters by continuing the war, "it will learn our NO comes with a nightmare."
Trump signalled his intention to block Democratic legislation by posting on Truth Social an image of a red cap with the word "VETO" on it.
