BBCPERSIAN — broadcast
20261105 010000 UTC
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[00:00:19] Headline
[00:00:20] News
[00:00:26] The fall of the strongholds of Republicans against
[00:00:29] the tsunami of Trump's opponents. Democrats took both houses
[00:00:33] of Congress in the midterm elections. They made
[00:00:35] it their own.
[00:00:42] Trump and Vance acknowledge the impact of the war on the Republican defeat.
[00:00:46] The US president, however, still defends his decision to attack
[00:00:49] Iran.
[00:00:50] Well,
[00:00:54] I think this is largely true, because the war in Iran
[00:00:57] short-term caused gasoline prices to rise.
[00:01:11] Reactions of Iranian officials to the results of the US midterm elections,
[00:01:14] from expressing confidence in the continuation of hostility
[00:01:18] in the message attributed to Khamenei, to Rezaei's claim of inflicting defeat
[00:01:21] on Trump.
[00:01:22] And
[00:01:29] the behavior of allies and rivals of America with
[00:01:32] the results of the American midterm elections. The European Union is
[00:01:36] hopeful about supporting Ukraine against Russia. China says
[00:01:39] it's an internal issue.
[00:02:21] Hello everyone, welcome to another special news segment that
[00:02:25] covers the results of the US midterm elections. I'll be with you for the next
[00:02:29] half an hour. In the US, Democrats were able to
[00:02:33] take control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate
[00:02:36] from the Republicans. US President Trump
[00:02:39] congratulated the Democrats on their victory in the midterm elections.
[00:02:43] He acknowledged that the war with Iran and
[00:02:46] its consequences, such as the increase in fuel prices, played a role in his party's
[00:02:50] defeat.
[00:02:53] Well, I think this is largely
[00:02:57] true, because the war in Iran short-term caused gasoline prices
[00:03:01] to go up a bit. So it's probably true, but at the same
[00:03:05] time, if I was in the same situation again, I would still
[00:03:08] have to do the same thing, because in the long term, this is the only
[00:03:12] way to prevent Iran from
[00:03:13] getting nuclear weapons.
[00:03:16] That was Donald Trump, but one of the surprises of this round of competition was the unprecedented victories
[00:03:20] of Democrats in states that for decades
[00:03:23] were considered strongholds of Republicans. In this
[00:03:26] election, some firsts were also achieved.
[00:03:30] Abdul El-Sayed, the candidate of the Democratic Party in Michigan, is the first
[00:03:33] Muslim to enter the US Senate. Hakeem Jeffries is also expected
[00:03:37] to become the first black speaker of the House
[00:03:41] of Representatives. Also, Keisha Lance Bottoms will be the first
[00:03:44] black female governor in US history.
[00:03:48] Manoush Pourzizi, my colleague from the US Congress, is with
[00:03:52] us. Manoush, Mr. Trump himself is now in a way confirming
[00:03:55] that the war is what caused this
[00:03:59] situation and this result that was achieved in this election.
[00:04:02] Mr. Vance also previously stated this
[00:04:06] issue more clearly. Should we conclude that
[00:04:10] Republicans agree on
[00:04:13] this matter?
[00:04:16] Look, there is no doubt that the war
[00:04:19] and the increase in energy prices, and consequently
[00:04:22] the inflation that has occurred in the US, and the pain that it has caused
[00:04:26] people in the US when spending, has had a very widespread
[00:04:30] and significant impact
[00:04:32] on their decision and their vote. Whether Mr. Vance
[00:04:36] said this in coordination with Donald Trump, we really don't know.
[00:04:40] Was it an attempt
[00:04:43] to save Mr. Vance's own political future
[00:04:47] by trying to distance himself from this historic defeat
[00:04:50] of the Republicans, or is it a sign
[00:04:53] of a change in the White House's perspective? I don't think
[00:04:56] it's a sign of a change in the White House's perspective overall.
[00:05:00] Mr. Trump has, until just a few days ago,
[00:05:03] participated in 21 states in 21 election trips
[00:05:07] and election campaigns. In all of them,
[00:05:11] most of them, he said
[00:05:13] that this situation
[00:05:16] regarding the increase in prices and
[00:05:20] the concerns that have arisen regarding the increase in prices are the work of Democrats.
[00:05:24] At one point, he blamed the price of diesel and gasoline
[00:05:27] on Ukraine and has always
[00:05:30] said that America is making billions
[00:05:33] of dollars from this war. You don't know how rich your country
[00:05:37] has become. This is something that the American
[00:05:39] people have not
[00:05:43] connected with. The expectation that American voters
[00:05:46] had from Mr. Trump and his party was not this. This is the answer
[00:05:50] we can, in my opinion, take. American farmers
[00:05:53] voted for Mr. Trump for three terms in his first presidency,
[00:05:57] in his attempt for a second term,
[00:06:01] and also in his second presidency,
[00:06:04] farmers voted for him. This time they didn't vote for him
[00:06:07] because they are a group that is severely affected by the consequences
[00:06:11] of the war in Iran. From the price of chemical fertilizers, which
[00:06:15] has skyrocketed after
[00:06:18] the problems that arose for the transportation of chemical fertilizers from the Strait of Hormuz,
[00:06:22] to the cost of diesel and other costs.
[00:06:25] The young men who, in alliance with other groups
[00:06:28] during Mr. Trump's previous term, brought him
[00:06:32] to the White House, this time did not show much enthusiasm for him
[00:06:35] because most of them are people who are not in favor
[00:06:39] of war and do not want America to get involved in war again
[00:06:43] and create a prospect for them
[00:06:46] that might mean fighting in other countries.
[00:06:50] All of these together
[00:06:53] have actually shown the response
[00:06:57] of Mr. Trump's policies and his performance
[00:07:01] in implementing those policies, which, in my opinion,
[00:07:04] reflects the American people's response to him.
[00:07:06] What impact might the result of this election
[00:07:09] have on the decision
[00:07:15] to resume this war again?
[00:07:18] In the
[00:07:23] short term, it will take almost
[00:07:26] two months for the Democrats to come to Congress.
[00:07:30] Therefore, before that, Mr. Trump will have
[00:07:33] a much freer hand to direct
[00:07:37] the war order in any direction he wants. The military arrangement
[00:07:40] that is currently in the Persian Gulf is almost
[00:07:44] reaching its ideal state. We know that the aircraft
[00:07:47] carrier Roosevelt is moving towards the
[00:07:51] so-called CENTCOM area or Central Command, which
[00:07:54] includes the Middle East, and
[00:07:58] in fact, he is still defending his Secretary of Defense, Pit Hexed, and
[00:08:02] his war commanders. And also,
[00:08:05] as you said, he is emphasizing that if he were
[00:08:09] faced with that previous choice again, he would
[00:08:13] still choose war with Iran. Therefore, at least
[00:08:16] what we see openly is that nothing has changed in the mindset
[00:08:20] of the White House and Mr. Trump. The possibility of Republicans
[00:08:23] wanting to get closer to Democrats in the remaining
[00:08:27] two months and in an alliance with
[00:08:30] them to somewhat limit the war
[00:08:33] budget for Mr. Trump, they should
[00:08:36] impose financial restrictions on him to bind his
[00:08:40] hands and feet for escalating the war, at least to some extent. This is a
[00:08:44] possibility, but until it happens, we cannot comment on it. Thank you
[00:08:48] Mahrosh Pozyai, my colleague from the US Congress,
[00:08:51] is with us.
[00:08:54] Bahreng Tajdin, my colleague, has also looked at what happened in this election and
[00:08:58] the results obtained so far. Many polls
[00:09:01] predicted that the 2026 midterm elections would result
[00:09:05] in a Democratic victory, but few people
[00:09:09] expected their victory to be so widespread.
[00:09:12] You see that they gained a majority in both the Senate
[00:09:16] and the House of Representatives, despite the fact that the results
[00:09:19] for dozens of seats in this chamber are still unknown.
[00:09:22] 35 US Senate seats were up for election
[00:09:26] and these are the results.
[00:09:30] The blue ones were won by Democrats, the red ones
[00:09:33] by Republicans. The striped states are where
[00:09:37] seats changed hands between the two parties.
[00:09:40] Let's start with a historic victory in Kansas,
[00:09:44] a state whose seats
[00:09:48] in the US Senate have been held by Republicans since 1932,
[00:09:51] almost a century ago. But a moderate pastor named
[00:09:55] Adam Hamilton changed this trend
[00:09:59] after 9 minutes in favor
[00:10:01] of the Democrats and won by a margin of about
[00:10:04] 44. Another significant state
[00:10:07] and another significant victory for Democrats
[00:10:11] was in Texas.
[00:10:13] Religious and conservative, which is considered one of the traditional bases
[00:10:17] of the Republican Party, but James Talarico
[00:10:20] succeeded by a margin of about one million votes,
[00:10:24] approximately.
[00:10:40] These were the victories of Democrats in South Carolina, where until a few months ago,
[00:10:44] Lindsey Graham was its senator, someone who in
[00:10:47] recent years was active in the debate on US policy towards Iran
[00:10:50] and was considered a strong supporter of the US-Israel war
[00:10:54] with Iran. Of course, Mr. Graham passed away
[00:10:57] a few months ago. His sister, with the support of Donald Trump, became his
[00:11:01] successor in the Senate. But Democrats defeated Mrs. Graham,
[00:11:05] which was their first victory in such an election in South
[00:11:08] Carolina since almost 28 years ago.
[00:11:12] Democrats gained Senate seats in other states,
[00:11:15] including Iowa and Ohio, where in fact, until just two years
[00:11:19] ago, J.D. Vance was their senator.
[00:11:22] North Carolina, Maine,
[00:11:25] they were also able to take from the Republicans. Only
[00:11:29] two states remain. One is Mississippi, where after
[00:11:32] counting almost 1 million votes, 96
[00:11:35] percent, the difference between the Democratic candidate and the Republican
[00:11:38] candidate is about 65 votes. It is so
[00:11:42] close and the result may take a long time. Another one is
[00:11:45] Alaska, where the Democratic candidate is ahead
[00:11:49] of his rival by about 626 votes. But besides these,
[00:11:53] an important historical event also happened in Michigan, a state
[00:11:56] whose seat had been held by Democrats
[00:12:00] for almost half a century. But in a close internal
[00:12:04] competition, Abdulrahman Syed,
[00:12:06] known as Abdul El-Sayed (as they say in the US),
[00:12:10] managed to win the party's
[00:12:13] nomination for this seat in the Democratic
[00:12:16] primary election, and now
[00:12:20] he will become the first Muslim senator in US history.
[00:12:23] With this description, so far, Democrats
[00:12:26] have been able to add seven seats to their Senate
[00:12:29] seats, and this means
[00:12:33] that Democrats will control
[00:12:36] the majority of this chamber and the House
[00:12:40] of Representatives in the US for the next two years. This
[00:12:44] blue wave of Democratic victory in Congress could
[00:12:47] make things harder for Donald Trump
[00:12:51] in the last two years of his presidency in some ways.
[00:12:55] That was Bahreng Tajdin. Jennifer Ewing, spokesperson for the organization
[00:12:59] Republicans Abroad in California, is with us. Welcome
[00:13:01] to the program. I know that many Republicans
[00:13:05] tell Democrats or people
[00:13:09] who consider this situation a defeat for Republicans that the sitting
[00:13:13] president usually loses the midterm elections,
[00:13:16] but this defeat is more than a usual
[00:13:20] loss. Democrats won many more seats
[00:13:23] than expected, both in the Senate and
[00:13:27] in the House of Representatives. How do you explain
[00:13:31] this?
[00:13:32] Hello,
[00:13:38] thank you for inviting me. Yes, it is true
[00:13:42] that generally the ruling
[00:13:44] party
[00:13:48] loses the House of Representatives, but even if we consider
[00:13:51] that, this is a big defeat for Republicans.
[00:14:25] started in your country, Iran, and
[00:14:28] the people, the voters, are now saying that this war is very
[00:14:32] unpopular, and also regarding the costs, I don't feel
[00:14:35] good about it, and therefore it's very simple. The answer was not
[00:14:39] very difficult to guess that this war
[00:14:42] would eventually become unpopular in America. What happened that Mr.
[00:14:46] Trump and his advisors did not see this issue? Especially my reference
[00:14:50] is also to Mr. Vance's statements. We knew he was
[00:14:54] against this war before. But now he is saying
[00:14:57] with much more frankness what the American voter wants.
[00:15:01] He is someone who might lose his chance
[00:15:03] for the presidency if things remain the same.
[00:15:07] Yes,
[00:15:08] your
[00:15:17] point is very valid.
[00:15:21] If this tweet
[00:15:37] is very close to President Trump,
[00:15:40] he might have lost hope
[00:15:44] for his future. Some
[00:15:47] and many, including myself,
[00:15:49] were very happy that President Trump chose
[00:15:53] him as his vice president because he is against war and
[00:15:56] we thought we were voting for someone who
[00:16:00] would prioritize America.
[00:16:02] And
[00:16:04] you are
[00:16:34] not that these very issues, both in terms of
[00:17:38] the whole country, told him to end this, to
[00:17:42] finish this, and my meaning of finishing it is not what some
[00:17:45] mean, but rather we mean reducing
[00:17:48] tensions and a diplomatic solution. I think this is what he should do.
[00:17:51] Thank you, Jennifer Ewing, spokesperson for Republicans Abroad in
[00:17:55] Britain. Thank you.
[00:17:58] Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science at Missouri University of Science and
[00:18:01] Technology, is also with us. Mr. Boroujerdi, you heard Ms. Ewing's remarks. In her
[00:18:05] last sentence, she said it was a big no.
[00:18:08] To this war, and voters told Mr. Trump to end this situation.
[00:18:12] Do you think he will do such a thing? Does it
[00:18:16] seem that this result was a big
[00:18:18] gift to the Islamic Republic?
[00:18:21] Yes, I think
[00:18:24] the Republicans suffered a devastating
[00:18:26] electoral defeat. This is probably the biggest
[00:18:30] decisive defeat in the US congressional elections in the last
[00:18:33] 50 years. And
[00:18:38] undoubtedly, the consequences of the war in Iran played a fundamental
[00:18:41] role. The increase in gasoline prices
[00:18:45] and also the trade tariffs that harmed
[00:18:49] American farmers are what we
[00:18:51] witnessed the fruits of in yesterday's
[00:18:55] elections, so to speak.
[00:18:57] In my opinion, yes, Iran can be
[00:19:01] the winner of this election for several reasons.
[00:19:04] Firstly, the internal divisions within the
[00:19:07] Republican Party will intensify from now on. The fact that
[00:19:11] Mr. J.D. Vance is trying to distance himself somewhat
[00:19:14] from Mr. Trump's position because he has dreams for the next
[00:19:18] two years, or other people who might be there,
[00:19:21] will cause the scope of these divisions in the party
[00:19:25] to increase. In addition, Mr. Trump might,
[00:19:28] because he is now angry about the result of this election, or
[00:19:32] because he wants to show the public that he is still
[00:19:36] in charge, want to escalate
[00:19:40] this war again. But the reality is that, in any case,
[00:19:43] in two months, with the Democrats coming to power,
[00:19:47] and the calculations that will be needed for the continuation of the war,
[00:19:50] they will chain Mr. Trump's
[00:19:54] hands and feet. Therefore, it can be said that
[00:19:57] Mr. Trump's political
[00:19:59] airplane is truly grounded after this election.
[00:20:02] A question that is currently occupying many minds, and
[00:20:06] opinions differ on it, is whether this result
[00:20:10] will cause Mr. Trump to reconsider
[00:20:13] whether to resume the war with Iran, or whether he will
[00:20:17] somehow resume
[00:20:20] this war as an act of
[00:20:22] revenge.
[00:20:24] Look, the reality is that because
[00:20:27] we cannot expect how Mr. Trump will
[00:20:31] respond to this issue, both possibilities exist.
[00:20:34] But I think that last night, he received
[00:20:38] a very clear message from American citizens:
[00:20:41] if they decide to continue
[00:20:44] the war, it will not only affect
[00:20:48] Mr. Trump's political life for the remaining two
[00:20:52] years, but it will also
[00:20:55] seriously challenge his party's ability
[00:20:59] to regain control of Congress in the elections
[00:21:03] two years from now. And I think
[00:21:06] many American politicians who perhaps
[00:21:09] until now went along
[00:21:13] with Mr. Trump's words out of fear
[00:21:15] will henceforth find more courage
[00:21:20] to confront him, because many of
[00:21:24] them consider him responsible for the blatant defeat
[00:21:27] that Republicans suffered yesterday in the elections.
[00:21:31] In the message that Mr. Vance posted on social media,
[00:21:34] one issue that has attracted a lot of attention is that
[00:21:38] the Vice President of the United States is talking about reconsidering his policy
[00:21:42] towards Israel. From your perspective,
[00:21:45] have American politicians
[00:21:48] possibly come to the conclusion that they should reconsider
[00:21:52] this? Look, in my opinion, besides the issue of the war
[00:21:54] in Iran, the second issue in terms of foreign policy where we
[00:21:58] can witness a serious difference in attitude
[00:22:02] is undoubtedly the issue of Israel.
[00:22:05] Even if Mr. Netanyahu, who currently seems to have lost
[00:22:08] the elections, in terms of being able
[00:22:12] to form another cabinet, even if he succeeds again,
[00:22:15] this time the US Congress will not have the same
[00:22:19] stance regarding financial aid to Israel.
[00:22:23] Because we saw in the votes how much the view, especially
[00:22:27] of the young American generation, has become negative towards
[00:22:31] Israel. They do not agree with
[00:22:34] the operations that the Israelis carried out in Gaza and so on.
[00:22:37] When Democrats control Congress, they can put
[00:22:41] more pressure on the government in this regard. The fact that Mr.
[00:22:44] Trump has also announced that, for example,
[00:22:48] he will cut financial aid to Israel, which we know is the largest
[00:22:52] financial aid from the US to any country, will be a response
[00:22:56] to the actions that Democrats will take
[00:22:59] to truly prevent the good
[00:23:02] relations that existed between Mr. Trump and Netanyahu
[00:23:06] from continuing for a long time.
[00:23:09] Therefore, yes, Israel will also be
[00:23:13] another loser in these elections. Thank you, Mehrzad Boroujerdi,
[00:23:17] Professor of Political Science at
[00:23:20] Missouri University of Science and Technology,
[00:23:23] is with us. The website of Mojtaba Khamenei, the leader
[00:23:27] of Iran, implicitly referred to the US elections in a written message
[00:23:31] from him on the occasion of November 4th, the anniversary of the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran,
[00:23:35] and said that if some people have a little hope
[00:23:38] for partisan and factional shifts in that country, they are gravely
[00:23:41] mistaken. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also said
[00:23:45] that Americans said no to war in these elections, and Iran
[00:23:49] also supports this. Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of the Supreme National
[00:23:53] Security Council, also said that the great Iranian nation inflicted
[00:23:56] a major strategic defeat on Trump in the battlefield and the Strait of Hormuz, and
[00:24:00] also a heavy political defeat in Washington.
[00:24:03] Mohammad Amini reports.
[00:24:05] The
[00:24:10] midterm elections for the US legislative bodies and the heavy
[00:24:13] defeat of Republicans are being closely followed in Iran.
[00:24:17] Senior
[00:24:20] officials of the regime linked the defeat of Trump's party
[00:24:23] in this election to the war with Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei,
[00:24:27] the leader of the Islamic Republic, who has not been seen in public
[00:24:31] since assuming the leadership, reacted to the US elections
[00:24:34] in a message on the occasion of November 4th. It is not known
[00:24:38] whether he was aware of the results of the US elections
[00:24:42] at the time this message was written or not. But in his message, he said
[00:24:45] that partisan and factional changes in the US system
[00:24:49] will not change that country's hostility
[00:24:53] towards Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei
[00:24:55] focused more on the war with the US and said
[00:24:59] that if the US continues its military actions against Iran,
[00:25:03] Iran's response will take on much broader
[00:25:07] dimensions. However, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker
[00:25:10] of the parliament, made an explicit reference to the results of the US elections.
[00:25:14] He wrote on the X network: The American people, whether out of
[00:25:18] conscience or under pressure from the cost of living,
[00:25:22] said no to war, and we also confirm
[00:25:25] this message. He continued that if the US
[00:25:29] government disregards the Americans' no, it will face
[00:25:32] the Iranians' no, which will appear
[00:25:36] in the form of a nightmare. One of Mr. Ghalibaf's deputies
[00:25:40] also used the term political defeat. The delusional
[00:25:43] American president, who sought victory through bluster
[00:25:47] on social media, has also been defeated
[00:25:51] in his domestic policy, and these defeats are
[00:25:54] aftershocks of the defeat against the Iranian nation.
[00:25:58] Media outlets close to the Revolutionary Guard, such as Khabar
[00:26:02] Bargozari Tasnim, dedicated their main page to
[00:26:06] the US elections and their results.
[00:26:08] It is still unclear what the effect of the electoral
[00:26:12] defeat of Mr. Trump and the Republicans will be on the US military
[00:26:15] plans towards Iran. It has been reported that the US president
[00:26:19] has no plans to attack Iran for now.
[00:26:23] It may take some time for the Trump administration
[00:26:26] to digest the shock of the blue wave tsunami
[00:26:30] of Democrats across the US. Mohammad
[00:26:34] Amini, BBC In
[00:26:37] conclusion of this news segment, I would also like to say that you can visit our website at any time
[00:26:40] of the day or night and follow the latest news from there.
[00:26:44] My colleagues are right now live
[00:26:47] on our website, updating it moment
[00:26:51] by moment, where you can read the latest news
[00:26:55] and reactions to the results of the US midterm elections.
[00:26:58] Right now, you can also see that Mr. Trump said that the impact of the war on the defeat
[00:27:02] of Republicans is largely true. He is referring
[00:27:06] to a post by J.D. Vance, his deputy,
[00:27:09] who said that the biggest impact
[00:27:13] and reason for what happened in this election is the war with Iran,
[00:27:17] which has raised the cost of living in the US.
[00:27:20] Read more details on our website at
[00:27:23] BBCper.com.
[00:27:25] This news segment has come to an end. Thank you for being with us, and thank you for choosing
[00:27:29] BBC Persian.
[00:27:47] The intelligence and security breaches of the Islamic Republic have made it
[00:27:51] vulnerable to Israel. What is the reason for this
[00:27:54] level of Israeli intelligence penetration into the structure of the Islamic Republic,
[00:27:58] and why has Israel not been able
[00:28:01] to achieve its desired outcome using
[00:28:04] this intelligence and security asset?
[00:28:07] There is a difference between your security and intelligence
[00:28:10] success in infiltrating and eroding a political
[00:28:13] system and your ability to change
[00:28:17] political power. There is no power or strength except in God.
[00:28:21] Why don't you look at the pictures
[00:28:21] you have?
[00:28:26] They put me in a governmental shelter, and the children went in one
[00:28:30] direction, and I went in another. And I settled. My son, Saeed, who was not yet
[00:28:34] two and a half or three years old, came and sat with me.
[00:28:38] I told my mom, I want to tell you something. Keep your name,
[00:28:41] and your sister's name, and your siblings' names,
[00:28:45] and the crime, that is, changing the child's lineage. SOS
[00:28:49] International was aware of most of the details, meaning
[00:28:52] all the children must be admitted to the children's section. They must have regular
[00:28:56] reports sent to the main office in the city, but
[00:29:00] I feel like he is acting. Of course, they are acting.
[00:29:07] Videos like this are all over social media,
[00:29:11] easily produced, high volume, and often very
[00:29:14] weird. AI is making it easier to scam us. It
[00:29:18] was my voice, it was my phone number. On that day I
[00:29:22] hadn't spoken to her. In the age of artificial
[00:29:25] intelligence, Panorama asks, is
[00:29:28] seeing still believing?
[00:30:20] The fall of the strongholds of Republicans in the US midterm
[00:30:23] elections. Democrats took
[00:30:27] both houses of Congress.
[00:30:28] Trump and Vance acknowledge
[00:30:34] the impact of the war on the Republican defeat.
[00:30:38] The US president, however, still defends his decision to attack
[00:30:41] Iran.
[00:30:42] Reactions of Iranian officials to
[00:30:48] the results of the US midterm elections, from expressing
[00:30:52] confidence in the continuation.