With the world closely watching a historic defeat for the Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm election, Iran has said the results are an emphatic public rejection of Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East.
Though results are still being counted, the Democrats have been projected as clear winners in the race to control both houses of Congress.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the results showed Americans were opposed to war, suggesting voters had punished the Trump administration over the conflict and its economic consequences.
In a post on X, Mr Ghalibaf wrote: “Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message. If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare.”
Mr Trump himself acknowledged that the war with Iran may have contributed to his party’s electoral losses.
He nonetheless refused to take personal blame for the defeat, claiming that if his name had been on ballots the Republicans would have won “by a landslide”.
Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said US hostility towards Iran will continue regardless of which party controls Washington.
“The US sees the end of its hegemony as distant; we see it as near,” he said.
Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message.
— محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) November 4, 2026
If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare.
On X, Iran’s mission in India posted an AI video mocking Mr Trump, which showed four men carrying the president out of the White House and throwing him into a rubbish bin with the words “Hazardous Waste” written on it.
International coverage of the result has largely framed it as a message to the president, with Le Monde, the Parisian newspaper, calling the election a “stunning rebuke for Trump” and a “major blow” for a leader who spent “nearly every day of the last month holding rallies to energise his supporters”.
The British government said that it will continue to have an “excellent relationship” with Mr Trump’s administration despite the electoral drubbing.
Health minister James Frith said: “It looks like an enormous night for American democracy and for the Democrats. We will see where the final numbers end up, but it looks like a seismic shift in domestic politics for the Americans.”
Mr Frith said the result would not fundamentally change the UK-US relationship. He told Times Radio: “The change of emphasis of power in the States is frequent. But the mainstay of the relationship with the UK Government, as its closest ally, is unwavering and unchanging.
“So I don’t expect it to change the nature of the relationship at all, it remains very strong.”
China said that it was willing to continue working with the United States to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of both countries during Xi Jinping’s recent state visit to Washington.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that Beijing was also willing to work on improving communication with Washington, adding that the midterms result was a matter of “US internal affairs”.
French finance minister Roland Lescure noted that Mr Trump would remain in charge of foreign policy issues, while adding that the president is notoriously unpredictable.
“Either he decides to rise above the fray – acknowledging that changes are necessary, particularly regarding gasoline prices, which directly affect people – and, I might add, he tones down his international involvement; or he does not,” Lescure told French TV channel BFM.
“Frankly, this is something we will need to keep an eye on in the coming days,” he added.
Ilaria Salis, a left-wing Italian MEP, called the result a “crushing defeat for Donald Trump, the ally-master of the pseudo-patriots in Italy and Europe”
She said it was “a victory made possible also by the growing strength of the socialist component within the American Democratic Party”, adding: “[Giorgia] Meloni, you’re next!”
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X: “Yesterday, the American people voted against policies that only serve to impoverish people. Against hatred. Against sexism. Against climate denial and against the privileges of the elites.
“It happened in Brazil. It has just happened in the US. And it will happen soon in Spain.”
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters that the results will “introduce a new era in world relations”.
“We have seen that the Democrats have taken control of the Senate and of the House, and the people of America have spoken.”
European parliament vice president Christel Schaldemose wrote: “Not because everything now changes for the better, but because it could benefit the support for Ukraine, the green transition, and relations with the rest of the world.
“But the EU must continue the course of standing stronger and standing on its own two feet. That’s not up for debate.”
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA earlier: “Let’s wait for the final results. The Democratic Party leadership’s approach to relations with Russia is sharply negative. There is nothing new about that.
“Our principled and consistent line regarding Ukraine as well as our foreign policy in general is not based on short-term considerations and, naturally, does not depend on the fluctuations of the political barometer in other countries. We will continue our work in accordance with the directives of the President of the Russian Federation.”
Global markets have fallen slightly on the Democrats’ strong performance, reflecting investor concerns that tighter regulation and local restrictions could slow America’s AI infrastructure boom.
The Financial Times reported that investors were particularly concerned about Democratic victories in Texas and Ohio, major data-centre hubs, where governors have powers over construction permits, zoning and potential building moratoriums.
The Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.7 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.7 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi fell as much as 4 per cent.
Asian technology stocks, including SoftBank, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, also came under pressure. “Asia is not very good at digesting US political risk or news flow,” William Bratton, head of Asia-Pacific cash equity research at BNP Paribas told the outlet, suggesting that the market has “overreacted”.
Meanwhile, European shares rose on Wednesday with banks and clean energy stocks among top gainers after Democrats won control of both chambers of the US Congress. The pan-European STOXX 600 climbed 0.5 per cent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 1.2 per cent. Bank shares gained more than two per cent as investors shifted towards domestic lenders.
Clean energy stocks rallied sharply, with Orsted up 7 per cent, Vestas gaining 5 per cent and Nordex rising 4.7 per cent, as investors anticipated potential changes to US policies under the new Congress. Novo Nordisk shares jumped 4.6 per cent after the Wegovy maker raised its full-year sales and profit forecasts following stronger-than-expected third-quarter results.
Technology stocks also recovered, supported by strong forecasts from US chipmaker AMD. Infineon and ASML gained more than 1.1 per cent.
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