Those expecting US policy shift are 'seriously mistaken', Iran's supreme leader warns

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has warned of a wider war if the US and Israel resume attacks against Iran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has warned that anyone expecting a change in US policy towards Tehran following the country's midterm elections is “seriously mistaken”, as he threatened a wider war if Washington and Israel resume attacks.

“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 United States can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, are seriously mistaken,” Khamenei said in a written statement published on his website on Wednesday.

Democrats seized control of the US Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections, reflecting anger over living costs, tariffs and the US war against Iran, which has sent fuel prices soaring.

Khamenei's remarks come as diplomatic efforts continue to avert renewed fighting in the war, which broke out on February 28.

US and Israeli leaders have in recent days threatened to resume attacks against Iran.

“Should such aggressions be repeated, the war's scope will become much wider,” said Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since taking power in March.

Earlier, Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Americans had voted against war.

“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” he posted on X.

“If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” Ghalibaf said.

Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also hailed the election results, saying Trump had been “defeated both militarily and politically”.

“We will certainly inflict further defeats on him,” he added.

Khamenei, 57, was named supreme leader after US-Israeli strikes at the start of the war killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The new leader has since communicated through written messages.