Iranian officials see US midterm vote as rejection of Trump's war policy

Iranian officials celebrated Democratic gains in the U.S. midterm elections as a rejection of President Donald Trump's war policy, with Tehran demonstrators burning American flags and chanting anti-U.S. slogans on Wednesday. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, a setback for Trump driven by voter frustration over war-related fuel and goods price increases. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, warned that partisan shifts in Washington will not change U.S. hostility toward Iran, while chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Americans voted "NO TO WAR." The celebrations coincided with the anniversary of the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and followed a limited strike on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz. The war, launched Feb. 28, killed former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has disrupted global energy markets, with back-channel negotiations continuing amid Israeli pressure for more strikes.