Iran says midterms election results show Americans reject the war

Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen claimed Wednesday to have struck King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh with a ballistic missile, causing “extensive damage.”

Saudi Arabia, despite its significant size, wealth and military advantage over the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels, has been unable to stop missile and drone attacks by the group. Previous Houthi strikes on Saudi airports in October killed at least 20 people, most of them at King Khalid. 

In a statement shared Wednesday on social media, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree warned that the the Riyadh airport was “unsafe” and he renewed the group’s “call to all international airlines, employees, and travelers not to travel through Saudi airspace, as it is unsafe, with the exception of the airspace over the holy areas of Mecca and Medina.”

There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities on the Houthi claim to have hit the airport again on Wednesday. 

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen claimed Wednesday to have shot down a Chinese-made armed reconnaissance drone operated by Saudi Arabia over Yemen’s southern Taiz province.

In a statement shared online by Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said it was the 10th Saudi operated drone of the type downed by the rebels during the current escalation of Yemen’s civil war, in which Saudi Arabia backs the Yemeni government.

Saree said in a string of social media posts that the Houthis had also “carried out an operation targeting Saudi enemy forces” with six ballistic missiles east of Yemen’s al-Jawf province, “leaving dozens dead and wounded and destroying a number of military vehicles.”

Other Houthi operations targeted a radar installation north of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, and a Saudi military encampment in Najran, he said.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities on the Houthi claims.

People marched through central Tehran Wednesday in a major pro-regime rally to mark the 47th anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in the Iranian capital, chanting anti-U.S. and Israel slogans.

Some held signs calling for revenge for the killing of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the outset of the ongoing war, while others mocked President Trump.

“We are not happy about the surge in oil prices,” said one woman, who gave AFP only her last name, Mahmoudkhani.

“But there is some satisfaction in knowing we are no longer living this torment alone. We, alone, have been suffering under sanctions for so many years,” she added.

Some echoed Iranian officials doubts’ that the election results would change much for Iranians.

“Whether it is the Democrats or the Republicans, there is no difference for us,” Mohammad, a 42-year-old civil servant, told AFP. “The US government’s approach toward the Iranian people has unfortunately remained the same over the past 50 years.”

CBS/AFP

A statement attributed to Iran’s elusive Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Wednesday said anyone expecting a shift in U.S. policy regarding the war with Iran in the wake of the American midterm elections was “seriously mistaken.”

“Those who still harbor even the slightest hope that the behavior of the hegemonic system might change through partisan or factional shifts, or who imagine that making concessions to the United States can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, are seriously mistaken,” said the statement published on Khamenei’s website.

Khamenei was named as the successor to his father, former leader Ali Khamenei, soon after the older man was killed in the initial wave of U.S.-Israeli strikes at the outset of the war. U.S. officials believe the younger Khamenei was seriously wounded in the same strike, and he has not been seen or heard from directly at all since being named the new supreme leader.

President Trump has said the war with Iran was partly responsible for the dismal midterm election results for his Republican party this week, but that he does not regret his decision to launch it in conjunction with Israel. 

In the message released Wednesday, Khamenei warned that “should such aggressions be repeated, the war’s scope will become much wider.”

CBS/AFP

President Trump told the Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday evening that he had no immediate plans to order new strikes on Iran, after keeping the option on the table for weeks ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

“We seem to be getting everything we want,” the FT quoted Mr. Trump as saying, referring to the current stalemate with Iran. While major fighting stopped weeks ago, the standoff has seen the Islamic Republic continue threatening and attacking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which in turn has kept global oil prices 60% to 70% higher than they were before the war started, driving up consumer costs across the globe. 

Asked whether there would be a new attack on Iran later this week, Mr. Trump said “we’re locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it.”

Despite the impasse, the president claimed the current circumstances were “brilliant,” with oil still reaching global markets from the Persian Gulf, including under U.S. military escort through the Strait of Hormuz.

“If you think about it, we haven’t really had a war with them in a long time. Six months, maybe more,” asserted Mr. Trump.

China’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that avoiding a resumption of the conflict between Iran and the U.S. was a “top priority” in its diplomatic efforts in the region.

“The top priority is to avoid the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East that would bring disaster to the region’s people,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.

China will “support Iran and the U.S. in resolving disputes through negotiations, promote finding a political settlement to the Yemen issue, to help reach a proper and comprehensive solution for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz,” she added.

China is an economic ally of Iran. Chinese purchases of Iranian crude oil amount to nearly 45% of the Iranian government’s budget, according to a U.S. government report from March 2025.

Later this month, Beijing will send its Middle East envoy to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia for visits “aimed at promoting peace talks (and) easing tensions,” the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

CBS/AFP

In a message seemingly directed at the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, Lebanon’s prime minister warned Wednesday against any moves that could pull the country into renewed fighting between Iran and the U.S. and Israel.

“Faced with the risks of renewed war in the region, I renew my warning of the dangers of dragging Lebanon into a new senseless adventure in service of outside interests,” Nawaf Salam said on Wednesday, without explicitly mentioning Hezbollah.

Southern Lebanon has been a major front in the interlinked regional conflicts, with fighting between Iran’s Hezbollah allies and Israel’s military driving tens of thousands of people from their homes and killing almost 9,000 since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Lebanese health ministry. 

Hezbollah, long a powerful political and paramilitary force in the country, pulled Lebanon directly into the war with Israel by launching strikes on the Jewish state in support of Hamas after the 2023 terror attacks sparked the war in Gaza, and then by firing rockets and missiles in support of Iran after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes commenced on Feb. 28. 

The Lebanon conflict has proven to be a major sticking point in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, as Tehran has consistently rejected any peace deal with Washington that does not also end fighting in Lebanon and Gaza.

A fragile ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hezbollah in June has halted most large-scale fighting between the two sides, but Israeli forces still occupy a large section of southern Lebanon, and there are sporadic attacks by both sides. 

“We do not accept the country again becoming a theater for the conflict of others,” Salam added, saying Lebanon had “already paid a heavy price.”

President Trump threatened repeatedly ahead of the U.S. midterm elections to renew strikes on Iran, but he told the Financial Times as the results came in Tuesday evening that he had no immediate plans to order attacks.

CBS/AFP

Four oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s military said Wednesday, after it warned no one would benefit from a return to war.

“Four non-compliant oil tankers attempting to pass through the prohibited passage south of the Strait of Hormuz were destroyed after striking naval mines and are still burning,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement quoted by state TV.

“Two other non-compliant ships or vessels have also been halted,” they said

The attacks come even as a diplomatic push is underway aimed at reaching a deal between the U.S. and Iran. Indirect talks via Qatari, Pakistani and Saudi mediators are understood to be underway.

Although both sides previously expressed some hope of reaching an agreement, Iran’s Secretary of the  Supreme National Security Council on Tuesday cast doubt on progress toward a deal, calling the U.S. response to their demands “not convincing.”

CBS/AFP

Iran’s chief negotiator said Wednesday the midterm election results mean Americans have rejected the war with his country.

“Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

He cited the increased cost of living or “conscience” as two of the possible reasons for the widespread Republican losses in Tuesday’s vote.

“If the U.S. govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” Ghalibaf added.

President Trump acknowledged on Tuesday night that the war with Iran was partially responsible for the Republicans’ defeat in the midterm elections.

In a phone interview with Fox News, Mr. Trump said “part of it was Iran” when explaining the result of the elections, but  that “at the same time, people understand the importance of what I’ve done.”

In a separate interview with the The Wall Street Journal, the president reiterated his comments and added that he does not regret starting the war with Tehran.

 “I don’t think about it. I did the right thing. I would have done it again,” he told the newspaper.

Qatari mediators expect feedback within 36 hours from Iranian and U.S. negotiators on new ideas aimed at getting both sides closer to a deal to end the war, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing an official briefed on the talks.

“The mediators came up with a new suggestion to move the process along, and it’s currently being studied by the two sides,” the official told Reuters.

Efforts to reach a deal to prevent a return to fighting between Iran and the U.S. have ramped up recently. President Trump has said he is still open to an agreement, but has also threatened to resume major U.S. strikes after Tuesday’s midterm elections in the U.S.

On the eve of the elections, Mr. Trump again expressed hope that an agreement could still be reached, claiming Tehran wanted a settlement “as soon as possible.”

Iranian officials declared Monday that the ball “is in the U.S. court” and they said Iran’s core demands to end the war would not be altered.