Iran says US midterm results will not end hostility, Khamenei warns
Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said expecting a shift in US policy through partisan changes is a serious mistake. Iranian officials welcomed the Democratic wins, while Donald Trump did not rule out a major new attack.
- Mojtaba Khamenei said US hostility will not change with factional shifts in Washington.
- Iranian officials linked Republican losses to the US-Israel war on Iran.
- Trump did not rule out a major new attack but said there may be no reason for one.
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that anyone expecting US policy to change through partisan or factional shifts, or believing that concessions would reduce American hostility, is seriously mistaken. His written statement was published on his website hours after the US midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress.
Khamenei has not appeared in public since his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, was assassinated in a US-Israeli attack on his office in February. The statement was issued on the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran.
Khamenei said Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz had undermined the idea of American invincibility. He also warned that any renewed US attack on Iran would draw a much wider response.
Other Iranian officials welcomed the results. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator with Washington and parliament speaker, said: "Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message." Ali Nikzad, First Deputy Speaker of parliament, attributed Republican losses to Washington's war with Iran and told lawmakers that American efforts to pressure Tehran had failed.
President Donald Trump acknowledged that the war, which began in February, may have hurt Republicans, but said voters were reacting to fuel costs. "I think it's the gasoline prices," he said. He did not rule out a major new attack on Iran and said some people were pushing for a "heavy hit". He also said the US was prepared to act but there may be no reason to, as hopes for a negotiated solution linger.
Al Jazeera reported that the US has warned it could carry out a short but intensive military campaign against Iran after the midterms. Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft warned that Trump could escalate attacks after the Democratic victory, and said the period before Democrats take control of Congress in January could be particularly volatile.
Hamidreza Moghadamfar, an adviser to the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said at a rally in Bandar Abbas that Iran would hit targets beyond US bases if Gulf states allowed US attacks from their territory. He named the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Background
khabr.pk reported on 2 November that Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was in indirect contact with Washington through Qatari and Pakistani mediators. On 4 November khabr.pk reported that Democrats won both houses of Congress.
Why it matters
Pakistan is named as one of the mediators in indirect US-Iran contacts, so changes in either side's stance bear directly on its diplomatic role. Iran's warning about Gulf states raises concern for a region Pakistan follows closely. Fuel costs are also part of the debate: khabr.pk recorded petrol at Rs362 per litre on 4 November.
