Trump weighs next steps in the Iran war after midterm losses as Tehran warns against new strikes

With Republicans set to lose control of Congress, President Donald Trump now has to decide what to do about the 8-month-old war with Iran, The Associated Press reported. For weeks, Trump had threatened to return to a full-scale bombardment once the elections were over if Tehran did not agree to a settlement on his terms, according to the AP.

Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance have acknowledged that the war played a role in the Republican losses, NPR reported.

In Tehran, officials portrayed the results as a rebuke of the war. "Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message," Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator, wrote on X, Reuters reported. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that U.S. hostility would continue no matter which party held power. Two senior Iranian sources told Reuters that leaders worried Trump could try to make up for the election setback with a military strike, and that the country remained on high alert.

Iranian military leaders also warned that a renewed conflict could spread. Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, who commands the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force, said a new war could reach beyond the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab al-Mandeb strait off Yemen, The National reported. The Revolutionary Guard said Thursday that two oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire in separate incidents in the strait overnight, a claim that has not been independently verified, according to The National.

Mediators have stepped up efforts to end the war, Reuters reported. Trump declined on Election Day to rule out a return to combat operations after the vote.