Iran's Khamenei says US hostility will persist regardless of party in power

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement on November 4, 2026 that US hostility toward Tehran would persist regardless of which party was in power, warning 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 said, according to a Reuters report from Dubai.

The remarks followed Democratic victories in Tuesday's US midterm elections, in which the party captured majorities in both the Senate and House. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator, posted on X: "Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message," adding that Washington should not ignore public opinion by attacking his country again.

Trump acknowledged in interviews with two media outlets that the US-Israeli war played a role in Republican defeats. "I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time people understood the importance of what I've done with Iran," he told Fox News. Two senior Iranian sources told Reuters that Iranian leaders welcomed the Democrats' victory but were concerned Trump could seek to compensate with a military strike, and remained on high alert.

Mediators have intensified efforts to end the war, with Trump on Tuesday declining to rule out a resumption of combat operations after the vote and Iran planning wider retaliation if war resumes. The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, and Iran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf states hosting US bases. Conflict also erupted in Lebanon between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel and more recently spread to Yemen, from where the Iran-aligned Houthis have struck energy facilities, airports and other targets in Saudi Arabia.

Global oil and gas prices have risen with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz severely disrupted after Tehran declared it closed, while the US has imposed a naval blockade on Iran. A news outlet run by Iran's judiciary shared a joke circulating on X that "Trump failed at regime change in Iran but he succeeded in Texas", a reference to a Democrat winning a Senate race in the southern state. Major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri ran a front-page image of Trump blindfolded with his head bowed under the headline "Iran's shadow over US elections".