US Vice President JD Vance blamed the war with Iran for Republicans' defeat in the midterm elections on Wednesday, saying voter anger over the conflict drove former Donald Trump supporters to back Democrats. "The reason we lost is the war," Vance wrote in a statement on X. He argued that the election results reflected dissatisfaction with the administration's foreign policy rather than low Republican voter turnout. Vance said many Americans who supported President Donald Trump and himself in the 2024 presidential election switched to the Democratic Party in 2026, despite significant turnout among Republican voters. One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was… — JD Vance (@JDVance) November 4, 2026 "The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026," he said. Citing polling data, Vance said voters who abandoned Republicans identified ending the war, tackling the cost of living and inflation, putting America first and changing Washington's relationship with Israel as their main concerns. The vice president acknowledged that Republicans would face "a lot of infighting and arguing" over the reasons behind their electoral losses. He also conceded that the party's economic messaging may have fallen short but maintained that the Iran war was the central factor behind the defeat. "Any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there," Vance said. Vance also seemed to back a diplomatic resolution to the Iran war: "While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound." Anyone expecting shift in US policy after midterm election 'seriously mistaken': Iran's supreme leader Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that anyone expecting a shift in US policy was “seriously mistaken”, a day after US midterm elections dealt a blow to US President Donald Trump, AFP reported on Wednesday. “Those who still harbour even the slightest hope that the behaviour of the hegemonic system might change through partisan or factional shifts, or who imagine that making concessions to the US can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, are seriously mistaken,” he said in a written statement published on his website. Khamenei warned that the Middle East war would become even wider if the United States resumed its attacks on the Islamic republic. “Should such aggressions be repeated, its (the war) scope will become much wider,” Khamenei said. Americans said no to war, and we endorse this message: Iran's Ghalibaf Senior Iranian Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf hailed the US public's rejection of the Iran war by voting against the Republican Party in the Congress midterm election in an X post on Wednesday. "Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message," he said. He added that "If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers," it will suffer "a nightmare." Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message. If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare. — محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) November 4, 2026 His comments came as Democrats established a majority in the Senate and House elections in a rebuke against US President Donald Trump's stewardship of the country, which in part has stemmed from the war waged on Iran. Drones attack Iranian Kurdish opposition in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah and east Erbil, sources say Two explosive-laden drones attacked the Iranian Kurdish opposition in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah and east Erbil on Wednesday, security sources said. Iran has repeatedly struck the bases of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, accusing the groups of carrying out attacks in Iran. Four oil tankers destroyed in Hormuz after hitting mines, Tehran says Four oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran said on Wednesday, after it warned no one would benefit from a return to war. It came a day after US President Donald Trump said the United States had launched strikes on the Islamic Republic, following reports of a raid on Qeshm, the largest island in the strait. "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." The Guards also said they had shot down a drone over the strait. Tehran claims control over Hormuz, a vital global energy conduit, and has targeted vessels that attempt to cross without its authorisation since the war erupted. The conflict, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, has been at a stalemate for months. Indirect contact between the United States and Iran via mediators has continued with little sign of any diplomatic breakthrough, and Iran has said it is ready to reopen the strait but only if Washington agrees to a long-standing list of demands. Tehran's chief negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the Islamic Republic was "ready for battle with its finger on the trigger", although President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted his government was trying to resolve the crisis "through dialogue". "No one will benefit from this war" if fighting resumes, Pezeshkian said on Tuesday. US has no immediate plans to strike Iran: Trump The US has no immediate plans to strike Iran, President Donald Trump told the Financial Times on Tuesday. In an interview with the newspaper hours before polls closed in US midterm elections, Trump described Washington's position toward Iran as a “brilliant situation,” suggesting the administration was satisfied with the current balance of pressure on Tehran. “We seem to be getting everything we want,” he said. Asked about indications from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that an attack could take place later this week, Trump said American forces remained prepared to act but suggested that military action might not be necessary. “I’m ready, we’re ready. We’re locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it,” he said. Read: Midterms decide Iran strategy: war or deal? Trump argued that the US was not currently engaged in a conventional war with Iran, pointing to previous American military operations against the country's nuclear infrastructure. “We’re not really in a war, because we hit them with the B-2 bombers and wiped out their nuclear potential incapacity,” he said, referring to the earlier US bombing campaign. He also referenced Operation Epic Fury and subsequent military actions, arguing that the confrontation did not resemble major conventional conflicts such as World War I, World War II or the ongoing war in Ukraine. “I don’t consider that we’re in a war like Ukraine, wars like World War I, World War II,” he said. Despite his assessment, the president acknowledged that Washington remained concerned about Iran's stockpile of approximately 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium. Trump described the material as “nuclear dust” and said indirect negotiations with Tehran over its future were continuing. Although much of the material is believed to be buried beneath extensive rubble from previous strikes, Trump said he was not satisfied with the prospect of it remaining there. “Even though it’s under hundreds of tons of rock, I would say that I’m not happy that it will be there,” he told the FT. He added that the issue remained among the subjects being discussed in ongoing contacts with Iran.