Iran negotiator US midterms — Iran’s top negotiator in talks with Washington has framed the Republican Party’s midterm losses as a public verdict on the war, saying American voters had rejected the conflict and that Tehran welcomed their message. The statement from Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker, came after President Donald Trump’s party suffered a heavy defeat at the polls.
In a post on X, Ghalibaf said Iran endorsed what he described as the American public’s rejection of war, and he warned that any US attempt to ignore that sentiment in favor of outside interests would draw a severe response from Tehran.
Trump points to war and fuel costs
Trump acknowledged that the conflict and the accompanying jump in petrol prices played a part in the Republican congressional losses. Speaking on Tuesday, he said the war was one factor behind the results, while insisting he did not regret the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran launched in February.
In an interview with Fox News, the president said people supported his approach on Iran but were unwilling to bear the short-term burden of higher gasoline costs, adding that he understood the frustration. In separate remarks to CBS News, Trump said the conflict would conclude on his own timetable.
He has repeatedly warned in recent weeks that Washington and Israel could return to full-scale war after the midterms if a deal to end the fighting is not reached with Iran.
Supreme leader sees no shift in US posture
Iran’s Supreme Leader said he did not expect US policy to change as a result of the elections. Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since the war began, issued a statement saying that anyone who believes American hostility toward Iran will ease is badly mistaken.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said his government had been pursuing a diplomatic path to resolve the crisis, warning that no party would gain from a renewed war. He also noted that the supreme leader had given the government authority to negotiate matters previously considered off-limits.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqai said on Monday that indirect negotiations mediated by Qatar were still based on a seven-step proposal Iran submitted in September. He said the plan had been condensed so that it could be carried out within two days.
Hormuz incidents and stalled talks
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said four oil tankers caught fire after striking naval sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz. According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, two of the vessels were still burning and two more tankers had been intercepted while attempting to use a prohibited southern route through the waterway.
BBC Verify, which has been examining the IRGC’s claims, said it had found no evidence that four tankers were destroyed.
In a separate incident, the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre reported that a tanker was hit by two unknown projectiles about 14 nautical miles north-east of Limah, on Oman’s Musandam peninsula, on Tuesday evening. No casualties were reported.
On Monday, an Indian crew member of a dhow was killed in an attack north-east of Limah, and Omani authorities rescued thirteen other crew members.
The IRGC also said its forces had shot down another US MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz. It made a similar claim on Monday night, when US officials said the American military carried out limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in response to the IRGC firing on a US aircraft.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments normally pass, was effectively closed after the war began because of Iranian missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels and a US naval blockade. A preliminary agreement in June to end the war and reopen the waterway collapsed within weeks after Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated its blockade.
Iran has insisted it will not surrender some measure of control over the strait and has targeted vessels using a southern route through Omani waters that bypasses its preferred path through Iranian waters. To keep exports moving from Gulf Arab states, the US military has been providing protection for tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
