Iran crows over midterms as Trump admits war ‘largely’ triggered defeat

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Tehran taunted United States (US) President Donald Trump over his midterms defeat on Wednesday as the US leader admitted the war against Iran was the key factor in his stinging electoral rebuke. As thousands mocked Trump at a rally in the Iranian capital, a senior official said the Islamic Republic had handed him a strategic and political defeat. Eight months after US-Israeli strikes started the war, voters angered by rising diesel and consumer prices turned on Trump's Republicans, who lost control of both chambers of Congress. "The Iranian nation handed Trump a strategic defeat on the battlefield and in the Hormuz -- and a POLITICAL DEFEAT in Washington," Mohsen Rezai, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on X. Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned the war could widen if US attacks resume, after Tuesday's US strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's blockade of shipping in the strait, gateway to the Gulf's energy exports, has sent oil prices soaring, pushing up living costs. The US president said it was "largely true" that the war caused his defeat, after Vice President JD Vance said it was "the reason we lost". "I think it's largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term," said Trump, when asked about Vance's comment. "But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I'd have to do it again. Because long term, it's the only answer. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon," he added. - 'This war must end' - However, Trump ruled out firing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a staunch proponent of the war, saying: "I think he's doing a very good job." Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that the Iran war "must end" and suggested his party's incoming majority in Congress could use their control over government funding to press for that goal. "This war must end. It must end," Schumer told journalists, later noting that the "power of the purse" is "one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people". In central Tehran, demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" beneath a giant display declaring: "The people of Iran set the price." Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator in talks with Washington, wrote on X: "Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message." Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also hailed the election results, saying Trump had been "defeated both militarily and politically". The midterms results could constrain Trump's ability to enact his agenda, though the president retains the power to order new strikes. On Tuesday the US launched strikes on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, with Iranian state media reporting five explosions in rapid succession. "They built an anti-aircraft facility... As soon as it was completed, we hit it last night very nicely," Trump told US media, but he called it a "minor attack". Iran's Revolutionary Guards said a US MQ-1 drone was "intercepted and destroyed" over Qeshm Island. There was no confirmation from the US side. - 'Locked and loaded' - Earlier this week the president said he still had to "take care" of one or two targets, including so-called Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran, a suspected nuclear site which Tehran denies is such a facility. However, he told the Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday that a full-scale resumption of war may not be necessary. "We seem to be getting everything we want," he said. "I'm ready, we're ready. We're locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it." Diplomatic efforts by mediators have been in full swing in an attempt to prevent any resumption of fighting. On Tuesday Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said his government was still trying to resolve the crisis through dialogue. Qatar, a mediator in the protracted wrangling, said it remained hopeful of an interim deal. Both sides "are currently reviewing the ideas and proposals we have presented", Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told reporters. China also said Wednesday that avoiding a return to hostilities was a top priority in its diplomatic efforts with the countries. The war, triggered in February when the US and Israel pummelled Iran in a massive wave of strikes, has been at a stalemate for months.