‘US collapse is accelerating’: Iran’s Supreme Leader targets Trump after GOP midterm rout
TEHRAN, IRAN: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has seized on the Republican midterm losses to claim American power is in free fall.
In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, November 4, he said the Strait of Hormuz had exposed the limits of US strength.
The message came as Democrats were projected to take control of Congress after a night that left President Donald Trump’s party badly shaken.
The process of the US's collapse has accelerated.
— Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei (@MKhamenei_ir) November 4, 2026
Khamenei’s message to Washington
Khamenei used the statement to cast the war as a failure for the United States.
He said American leaders had “come up against the impenetrable wall of the steadfast resolve of the valiant Iranian nation.”
Their “miscalculations,” he wrote, had imposed “enormous costs” on the American people.
Today, the declining power and hegemony of the United States has suffered an irreversible fall in both dimensions of its power: its hard military power and its international soft power.
— Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei (@MKhamenei_ir) November 4, 2026
He singled out the Persian Gulf, and the Strait of Hormuz in particular, as a place where he believed American strength had been undermined.
The situation there, he said, “has shattered the myth of the US invincibility.”
The Supreme Leader then broadened his argument to cover America's overall global standing.
He claimed that the country's “declining power and hegemony” had suffered “an irreversible fall” in both its military might and international influence.
He concluded writing “The process of the US’s collapse has accelerated.”
The timing was deliberate. The statement came hours after Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Americans had voted against the war and warned Washington of a “Nightmare” if it ignored them.
[US leaders] have come up against the impenetrable wall of the steadfast resolve of the valiant Iranian nation. Their miscalculations have therefore resulted in enormous costs being imposed on the American people and the US government's client states.
— Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei (@MKhamenei_ir) November 4, 2026
Republicans lose ground after midterms
The results from Tuesday night gave Tehran an opportunity to point to a major shift in American politics.
Projections state that Democrats would win the Senate, with House control also moving in their direction.
Democrats were widely seen as underdogs in the Senate going in, with many expecting 2028 to be their real chance.
The wins came in key places.
Sen. Jon Ossoff held his seat in Georgia, Roy Cooper flipped North Carolina and Sherrod Brown won back a Senate seat in Ohio.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said his party had “taken back control of Congress.”
Republicans have offered competing explanations.
Vice President JD Vance argued that Republican voters did turn out, but many who backed Trump in 2024 switched sides.
He blamed the war, along with cost-of-living worries and relationship dynamics with Israel.
Trump said Iran played a part, but he also pointed to the fact that he was not on the ballot himself.
The warning signs were there for months. Rising fuel prices, falling approval ratings and the deaths of American service members had worried the president’s own advisers.
What remains to be seen is whether the defeat pushes Trump toward a deal with Tehran or whether Iran’s growing confidence makes one harder to reach.
