Iran leads global reactions to Trump’s midterms disaster: ‘Americans are saying no to war’

With the world closely watching a historic defeat for the Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm election, Iran has said the results are an emphatic public rejection of Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East.Though results are still being counted, the Democrats have been projected as clear winners in the race to control both houses of Congress.Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the results showed Americans were opposed to war, suggesting voters had punished the Trump administration over the conflict and its economic consequences.In a post on X, Mr Ghalibaf wrote: “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.”Mr Trump himself acknowledged that the war with Iran may have contributed to his party’s electoral losses.He nonetheless refused to take personal blame for the defeat, claiming that if his name had been on ballots the Republicans would have won “by a landslide”.On X, Iran’s mission in India posted an AI video mocking Mr Trump, which showed four men carrying the president out of the White House and throwing him into a rubbish bin with the words “Hazardous Waste” written on it.International coverage of the result has largely framed it as a message to the president, with Le Monde, the Parisian newspaper, calling the election a “stunning rebuke for Trump” and a “major blow” for a leader who spent “nearly every day of the last month holding rallies to energise his supporters”. The British government said that it will continue to have an “excellent relationship” with Mr Trump’s administration despite the electoral drubbing.Health minister James Frith said: “It looks like an enormous night for American democracy and for the Democrats. We will see where the final numbers end up, but it looks like a seismic shift in domestic politics for the Americans.”Mr Frith said the result would not fundamentally change the UK-US relationship. He told Times Radio: “The change of emphasis of power in the States is frequent. But the mainstay of the relationship with the UK Government, as its closest ally, is unwavering and unchanging.“So I don’t expect it to change the nature of the relationship at all, it remains very strong.” China said that it was willing to continue working with the United States to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of both countries during Xi Jinping’s recent state visit to Washington. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that Beijing was also willing to work on improving communication with Washington, adding that the midterms result was a matter of “US internal affairs”.French finance minister Roland Lescure noted that Mr Trump would remain in charge of foreign policy issues, while adding that the president is notoriously unpredictable. “Either ⁠he decides to ​rise ⁠above the ‌fray – acknowledging that changes are necessary, particularly regarding ‌gasoline prices, which directly ‌affect people – and, I might add, he tones ⁠down his international involvement; or he does not,” Lescure told French TV channel BFM.“Frankly, ‌this is something ​we will need ‌to keep ⁠an eye on in ⁠the coming days,” he ‌added.Ilaria Salis, a left-wing Italian MEP, called the result a “crushing defeat for Donald Trump, the ally-master of the pseudo-patriots in Italy and Europe”She said it was “a victory made possible also by the growing strength of the socialist component within the American Democratic Party”, adding: “[Giorgia] Meloni, you’re next!”Global markets have fallen slightly on the Democrats’ strong performance, reflecting investor concerns that tighter regulation and local restrictions could slow America’s AI infrastructure boom. The Financial Times reported that investors were particularly concerned about Democratic victories in Texas and Ohio, major data-centre hubs, where governors have powers over construction permits, zoning and potential building moratoriums.The Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.7 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.7 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi fell as much as 4 per cent. Asian technology stocks, including SoftBank, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, also came under pressure. “Asia is not very good at digesting US political risk or news flow,” William Bratton, head of Asia-Pacific cash equity research at BNP Paribas told the outlet, suggesting that the market has “overreacted”.