Khamenei, the Kremlin and Beijing Answer the US Midterms

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said on 4 November that anyone who expects the American vote to change US policy is “seriously mistaken.” The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was “sincerely counting on” Donald Trump to continue his “peacemaking efforts.” China’s foreign ministry called the election “a domestic affair.” All three spoke within a day of projections that gave Democrats both chambers of Congress.

Each capital asked a different question of the same result. Tehran asked whether Washington’s behaviour would change. Moscow asked whether Trump’s Ukraine diplomacy would survive. Beijing asked for nothing. This article sets the three answers beside what Trump and Iran’s parliament speaker had already said.

Khamenei rejected any change in US policy and warned that a repeat of US strikes would widen the war. Peskov asked Trump to keep going, and Mao Ning called the result a domestic matter. Trump’s own line, that Iran was “a piece of” the Republican losses, remains the only admission from Washington.

He wrote that those who “harbor even the slightest hope that the behavior of the hegemonic system might change” are “seriously mistaken,” a group that in his text includes anyone who thinks concessions would soften American hostility. On renewed attacks he wrote: “Should such aggressions be repeated, its (the war) scope will become much wider.”

He gave the armed forces a similar order on Saturday 31 October, calling for an “immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response” to any threat, as examined in What Did Khamenei Mean by a Response Without Limits?.

Peskov told reporters on Wednesday: “We are sincerely counting on (Trump) continuing his peacemaking efforts.” Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said: “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.”

Peskov named no deadline and no condition. The Abu Dhabi talks on Ukraine, set for 10 and 11 November, are covered in Who Is Attending the Abu Dhabi Ukraine Talks on 10 Nov?.

At the Beijing briefing the foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said: “The US midterm elections are a domestic affair.” She added that China stays committed to a constructive relationship with Washington built on strategic stability, mutual respect and fairness.

Asked by a newspaper whether the war cost Republicans seats, Trump answered “Iran was a piece of it.” To a television interviewer he said: “I don’t like to consider it a defeat for me.” The speaker of Iran’s parliament and chief negotiator with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, wrote on X: “Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message.” Both statements are in Did the Iran War Cost Republicans the US Midterms?.

Ghalibaf endorsed the message of the vote. Khamenei told Iranians to expect nothing from it. Ghalibaf leads Tehran’s side of the talks with Washington.

Trump has said the US has no immediate plan to strike Iran but is “locked and loaded,” as Silent Dossier reported in Will the US Strike Iran After the Midterms? Who Said What. US press reports before the vote said Washington was preparing for possible renewed military action once the ballots were counted. Khamenei’s “much wider” answers that preparation, not the Democrats.

Peskov addressed Trump and did not mention the Democrats. Ryabkov, the same day, named the Democratic leadership and called its approach to Russia “sharply negative.”

Mao Ning’s sentence is the shortest of the three. It names no party and makes no request.

First, whether Ghalibaf repeats Khamenei’s line. A second statement from the negotiator that echoes the refusal would show who sets the position for the talks. Second, whether Washington resumes strikes before the new Congress sits, which Khamenei has now said would meet a wider response. Third, the Abu Dhabi talks on 10 and 11 November, where Peskov’s request will be tested. Fourth, whether House Democrats move a binding war powers resolution on Iran.

None of the three capitals changed its position on Wednesday. The vote changed who can act on the war in Washington, and nobody in Tehran, Moscow or Beijing said it had changed theirs.