Iran's Ghalibaf says US midterm voters said 'no to war', warns of a 'Nightmare'

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, has described the results of the United States midterm elections as a public rejection of war, according to the Israeli broadcaster N12. In remarks relayed by N12 correspondent Keren Bezalel, Ghalibaf said the American people had said no to war and that Iran supported that message.

The Times of Israel reported that Ghalibaf made the comments in a post on X, the social media platform. In that version, he wrote that Americans had said "NO TO WAR" and that "we endorse this message", then added a warning: if the US government went against the will of its public to serve what he called international paymasters and blackmailers, it would find that "our NO comes with a Nightmare."

Who Ghalibaf is

The reports describe Ghalibaf in two roles. N12 identified him as the head of the Iranian parliament. The Times of Israel described him as the man leading Tehran's negotiations with Washington. The two descriptions are not in conflict, but together they explain why his comment drew attention in Israel: it came from the official who, according to the Times of Israel, heads Iran's side of its contacts with the Americans, rather than from a backbench politician or a state commentator.

None of the reports describes the current state of those talks, what is being negotiated, or whether any session is scheduled. The warning in his post, addressed to the US government, was framed as conditional on Washington acting against what he presented as the voters' wishes.

The election result he was responding to

According to the Times of Israel, the Democrats secured control of both houses of Congress in the midterm vote, in a result the outlet characterised as a sweeping series of upsets and a heavy rebuke of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Midterm elections in the United States take place halfway through a president's term and decide the make-up of Congress, which holds powers over budgets and, in principle, over decisions to go to war.

Ghalibaf's post linked the outcome to two possible motives, which he put to readers as alternatives: conscience or the cost of living. He did not say which he believed had driven voters, and he offered no evidence that opposition to war with Iran, or war in general, had decided the result. That interpretation is his own.

How Israeli outlets framed it

The Hebrew-language news service Ynet alerts carried the story under a headline saying that Iran was mocking Trump, quoting the phrase that Americans had said no to war. N12 presented the remark more neutrally, as Ghalibaf's reaction to the election results. The Times of Israel ran it on its live blog alongside other election coverage.

The wording of the quote differs slightly between outlets. N12's version has Ghalibaf saying the American people said no to war "today" and that Iran supports the message, while the Times of Israel quoted a longer English post that included the threat about a "Nightmare". It is not clear from the reports whether N12 was translating the same X post or a separate statement.

What the reports do not say

No reaction from the White House, the State Department or the Israeli government to Ghalibaf's remarks has been reported. The reports do not explain what concrete step by Washington Ghalibaf would regard as a betrayal of the public will, or what action his warning implies. Nor do they say whether his post reflects a position agreed across the Iranian leadership or is a personal statement.