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00:00:19Headline
00:00:20News
00:00:26The fall of the strongholds of Republicans against
00:00:29the tsunami of Trump's opponents. Democrats took both houses
00:00:33of Congress in the midterm elections. They made
00:00:35it their own.
00:00:42Trump and Vance acknowledge the impact of the war on the Republican defeat.
00:00:46The US president, however, still defends his decision to attack
00:00:49Iran.
00:00:50Well,
00:00:54I think this is largely true, because the war in Iran
00:00:57short-term caused gasoline prices to rise.
00:01:11Reactions of Iranian officials to the results of the US midterm elections,
00:01:14from expressing confidence in the continuation of hostility
00:01:18in the message attributed to Khamenei, to Rezaei's claim of inflicting defeat
00:01:21on Trump.
00:01:22And
00:01:29the behavior of allies and rivals of America with
00:01:32the results of the American midterm elections. The European Union is
00:01:36hopeful about supporting Ukraine against Russia. China says
00:01:39it's an internal issue.
00:02:21Hello everyone, welcome to another special news segment that
00:02:25covers the results of the US midterm elections. I'll be with you for the next
00:02:29half an hour. In the US, Democrats were able to
00:02:33take control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate
00:02:36from the Republicans. US President Trump
00:02:39congratulated the Democrats on their victory in the midterm elections.
00:02:43He acknowledged that the war with Iran and
00:02:46its consequences, such as the increase in fuel prices, played a role in his party's
00:02:50defeat.
00:02:53Well, I think this is largely
00:02:57true, because the war in Iran short-term caused gasoline prices
00:03:01to go up a bit. So it's probably true, but at the same
00:03:05time, if I was in the same situation again, I would still
00:03:08have to do the same thing, because in the long term, this is the only
00:03:12way to prevent Iran from
00:03:13getting nuclear weapons.
00:03:16That was Donald Trump, but one of the surprises of this round of competition was the unprecedented victories
00:03:20of Democrats in states that for decades
00:03:23were considered strongholds of Republicans. In this
00:03:26election, some firsts were also achieved.
00:03:30Abdul El-Sayed, the candidate of the Democratic Party in Michigan, is the first
00:03:33Muslim to enter the US Senate. Hakeem Jeffries is also expected
00:03:37to become the first black speaker of the House
00:03:41of Representatives. Also, Keisha Lance Bottoms will be the first
00:03:44black female governor in US history.
00:03:48Manoush Pourzizi, my colleague from the US Congress, is with
00:03:52us. Manoush, Mr. Trump himself is now in a way confirming
00:03:55that the war is what caused this
00:03:59situation and this result that was achieved in this election.
00:04:02Mr. Vance also previously stated this
00:04:06issue more clearly. Should we conclude that
00:04:10Republicans agree on
00:04:13this matter?
00:04:16Look, there is no doubt that the war
00:04:19and the increase in energy prices, and consequently
00:04:22the inflation that has occurred in the US, and the pain that it has caused
00:04:26people in the US when spending, has had a very widespread
00:04:30and significant impact
00:04:32on their decision and their vote. Whether Mr. Vance
00:04:36said this in coordination with Donald Trump, we really don't know.
00:04:40Was it an attempt
00:04:43to save Mr. Vance's own political future
00:04:47by trying to distance himself from this historic defeat
00:04:50of the Republicans, or is it a sign
00:04:53of a change in the White House's perspective? I don't think
00:04:56it's a sign of a change in the White House's perspective overall.
00:05:00Mr. Trump has, until just a few days ago,
00:05:03participated in 21 states in 21 election trips
00:05:07and election campaigns. In all of them,
00:05:11most of them, he said
00:05:13that this situation
00:05:16regarding the increase in prices and
00:05:20the concerns that have arisen regarding the increase in prices are the work of Democrats.
00:05:24At one point, he blamed the price of diesel and gasoline
00:05:27on Ukraine and has always
00:05:30said that America is making billions
00:05:33of dollars from this war. You don't know how rich your country
00:05:37has become. This is something that the American
00:05:39people have not
00:05:43connected with. The expectation that American voters
00:05:46had from Mr. Trump and his party was not this. This is the answer
00:05:50we can, in my opinion, take. American farmers
00:05:53voted for Mr. Trump for three terms in his first presidency,
00:05:57in his attempt for a second term,
00:06:01and also in his second presidency,
00:06:04farmers voted for him. This time they didn't vote for him
00:06:07because they are a group that is severely affected by the consequences
00:06:11of the war in Iran. From the price of chemical fertilizers, which
00:06:15has skyrocketed after
00:06:18the problems that arose for the transportation of chemical fertilizers from the Strait of Hormuz,
00:06:22to the cost of diesel and other costs.
00:06:25The young men who, in alliance with other groups
00:06:28during Mr. Trump's previous term, brought him
00:06:32to the White House, this time did not show much enthusiasm for him
00:06:35because most of them are people who are not in favor
00:06:39of war and do not want America to get involved in war again
00:06:43and create a prospect for them
00:06:46that might mean fighting in other countries.
00:06:50All of these together
00:06:53have actually shown the response
00:06:57of Mr. Trump's policies and his performance
00:07:01in implementing those policies, which, in my opinion,
00:07:04reflects the American people's response to him.
00:07:06What impact might the result of this election
00:07:09have on the decision
00:07:15to resume this war again?
00:07:18In the
00:07:23short term, it will take almost
00:07:26two months for the Democrats to come to Congress.
00:07:30Therefore, before that, Mr. Trump will have
00:07:33a much freer hand to direct
00:07:37the war order in any direction he wants. The military arrangement
00:07:40that is currently in the Persian Gulf is almost
00:07:44reaching its ideal state. We know that the aircraft
00:07:47carrier Roosevelt is moving towards the
00:07:51so-called CENTCOM area or Central Command, which
00:07:54includes the Middle East, and
00:07:58in fact, he is still defending his Secretary of Defense, Pit Hexed, and
00:08:02his war commanders. And also,
00:08:05as you said, he is emphasizing that if he were
00:08:09faced with that previous choice again, he would
00:08:13still choose war with Iran. Therefore, at least
00:08:16what we see openly is that nothing has changed in the mindset
00:08:20of the White House and Mr. Trump. The possibility of Republicans
00:08:23wanting to get closer to Democrats in the remaining
00:08:27two months and in an alliance with
00:08:30them to somewhat limit the war
00:08:33budget for Mr. Trump, they should
00:08:36impose financial restrictions on him to bind his
00:08:40hands and feet for escalating the war, at least to some extent. This is a
00:08:44possibility, but until it happens, we cannot comment on it. Thank you
00:08:48Mahrosh Pozyai, my colleague from the US Congress,
00:08:51is with us.
00:08:54Bahreng Tajdin, my colleague, has also looked at what happened in this election and
00:08:58the results obtained so far. Many polls
00:09:01predicted that the 2026 midterm elections would result
00:09:05in a Democratic victory, but few people
00:09:09expected their victory to be so widespread.
00:09:12You see that they gained a majority in both the Senate
00:09:16and the House of Representatives, despite the fact that the results
00:09:19for dozens of seats in this chamber are still unknown.
00:09:2235 US Senate seats were up for election
00:09:26and these are the results.
00:09:30The blue ones were won by Democrats, the red ones
00:09:33by Republicans. The striped states are where
00:09:37seats changed hands between the two parties.
00:09:40Let's start with a historic victory in Kansas,
00:09:44a state whose seats
00:09:48in the US Senate have been held by Republicans since 1932,
00:09:51almost a century ago. But a moderate pastor named
00:09:55Adam Hamilton changed this trend
00:09:59after 9 minutes in favor
00:10:01of the Democrats and won by a margin of about
00:10:0444. Another significant state
00:10:07and another significant victory for Democrats
00:10:11was in Texas.
00:10:13Religious and conservative, which is considered one of the traditional bases
00:10:17of the Republican Party, but James Talarico
00:10:20succeeded by a margin of about one million votes,
00:10:24approximately.
00:10:40These were the victories of Democrats in South Carolina, where until a few months ago,
00:10:44Lindsey Graham was its senator, someone who in
00:10:47recent years was active in the debate on US policy towards Iran
00:10:50and was considered a strong supporter of the US-Israel war
00:10:54with Iran. Of course, Mr. Graham passed away
00:10:57a few months ago. His sister, with the support of Donald Trump, became his
00:11:01successor in the Senate. But Democrats defeated Mrs. Graham,
00:11:05which was their first victory in such an election in South
00:11:08Carolina since almost 28 years ago.
00:11:12Democrats gained Senate seats in other states,
00:11:15including Iowa and Ohio, where in fact, until just two years
00:11:19ago, J.D. Vance was their senator.
00:11:22North Carolina, Maine,
00:11:25they were also able to take from the Republicans. Only
00:11:29two states remain. One is Mississippi, where after
00:11:32counting almost 1 million votes, 96
00:11:35percent, the difference between the Democratic candidate and the Republican
00:11:38candidate is about 65 votes. It is so
00:11:42close and the result may take a long time. Another one is
00:11:45Alaska, where the Democratic candidate is ahead
00:11:49of his rival by about 626 votes. But besides these,
00:11:53an important historical event also happened in Michigan, a state
00:11:56whose seat had been held by Democrats
00:12:00for almost half a century. But in a close internal
00:12:04competition, Abdulrahman Syed,
00:12:06known as Abdul El-Sayed (as they say in the US),
00:12:10managed to win the party's
00:12:13nomination for this seat in the Democratic
00:12:16primary election, and now
00:12:20he will become the first Muslim senator in US history.
00:12:23With this description, so far, Democrats
00:12:26have been able to add seven seats to their Senate
00:12:29seats, and this means
00:12:33that Democrats will control
00:12:36the majority of this chamber and the House
00:12:40of Representatives in the US for the next two years. This
00:12:44blue wave of Democratic victory in Congress could
00:12:47make things harder for Donald Trump
00:12:51in the last two years of his presidency in some ways.
00:12:55That was Bahreng Tajdin. Jennifer Ewing, spokesperson for the organization
00:12:59Republicans Abroad in California, is with us. Welcome
00:13:01to the program. I know that many Republicans
00:13:05tell Democrats or people
00:13:09who consider this situation a defeat for Republicans that the sitting
00:13:13president usually loses the midterm elections,
00:13:16but this defeat is more than a usual
00:13:20loss. Democrats won many more seats
00:13:23than expected, both in the Senate and
00:13:27in the House of Representatives. How do you explain
00:13:31this?
00:13:32Hello,
00:13:38thank you for inviting me. Yes, it is true
00:13:42that generally the ruling
00:13:44party
00:13:48loses the House of Representatives, but even if we consider
00:13:51that, this is a big defeat for Republicans.
00:14:25started in your country, Iran, and
00:14:28the people, the voters, are now saying that this war is very
00:14:32unpopular, and also regarding the costs, I don't feel
00:14:35good about it, and therefore it's very simple. The answer was not
00:14:39very difficult to guess that this war
00:14:42would eventually become unpopular in America. What happened that Mr.
00:14:46Trump and his advisors did not see this issue? Especially my reference
00:14:50is also to Mr. Vance's statements. We knew he was
00:14:54against this war before. But now he is saying
00:14:57with much more frankness what the American voter wants.
00:15:01He is someone who might lose his chance
00:15:03for the presidency if things remain the same.
00:15:07Yes,
00:15:08your
00:15:17point is very valid.
00:15:21If this tweet
00:15:37is very close to President Trump,
00:15:40he might have lost hope
00:15:44for his future. Some
00:15:47and many, including myself,
00:15:49were very happy that President Trump chose
00:15:53him as his vice president because he is against war and
00:15:56we thought we were voting for someone who
00:16:00would prioritize America.
00:16:02And
00:16:04you are
00:16:34not that these very issues, both in terms of
00:17:38the whole country, told him to end this, to
00:17:42finish this, and my meaning of finishing it is not what some
00:17:45mean, but rather we mean reducing
00:17:48tensions and a diplomatic solution. I think this is what he should do.
00:17:51Thank you, Jennifer Ewing, spokesperson for Republicans Abroad in
00:17:55Britain. Thank you.
00:17:58Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science at Missouri University of Science and
00:18:01Technology, is also with us. Mr. Boroujerdi, you heard Ms. Ewing's remarks. In her
00:18:05last sentence, she said it was a big no.
00:18:08To this war, and voters told Mr. Trump to end this situation.
00:18:12Do you think he will do such a thing? Does it
00:18:16seem that this result was a big
00:18:18gift to the Islamic Republic?
00:18:21Yes, I think
00:18:24the Republicans suffered a devastating
00:18:26electoral defeat. This is probably the biggest
00:18:30decisive defeat in the US congressional elections in the last
00:18:3350 years. And
00:18:38undoubtedly, the consequences of the war in Iran played a fundamental
00:18:41role. The increase in gasoline prices
00:18:45and also the trade tariffs that harmed
00:18:49American farmers are what we
00:18:51witnessed the fruits of in yesterday's
00:18:55elections, so to speak.
00:18:57In my opinion, yes, Iran can be
00:19:01the winner of this election for several reasons.
00:19:04Firstly, the internal divisions within the
00:19:07Republican Party will intensify from now on. The fact that
00:19:11Mr. J.D. Vance is trying to distance himself somewhat
00:19:14from Mr. Trump's position because he has dreams for the next
00:19:18two years, or other people who might be there,
00:19:21will cause the scope of these divisions in the party
00:19:25to increase. In addition, Mr. Trump might,
00:19:28because he is now angry about the result of this election, or
00:19:32because he wants to show the public that he is still
00:19:36in charge, want to escalate
00:19:40this war again. But the reality is that, in any case,
00:19:43in two months, with the Democrats coming to power,
00:19:47and the calculations that will be needed for the continuation of the war,
00:19:50they will chain Mr. Trump's
00:19:54hands and feet. Therefore, it can be said that
00:19:57Mr. Trump's political
00:19:59airplane is truly grounded after this election.
00:20:02A question that is currently occupying many minds, and
00:20:06opinions differ on it, is whether this result
00:20:10will cause Mr. Trump to reconsider
00:20:13whether to resume the war with Iran, or whether he will
00:20:17somehow resume
00:20:20this war as an act of
00:20:22revenge.
00:20:24Look, the reality is that because
00:20:27we cannot expect how Mr. Trump will
00:20:31respond to this issue, both possibilities exist.
00:20:34But I think that last night, he received
00:20:38a very clear message from American citizens:
00:20:41if they decide to continue
00:20:44the war, it will not only affect
00:20:48Mr. Trump's political life for the remaining two
00:20:52years, but it will also
00:20:55seriously challenge his party's ability
00:20:59to regain control of Congress in the elections
00:21:03two years from now. And I think
00:21:06many American politicians who perhaps
00:21:09until now went along
00:21:13with Mr. Trump's words out of fear
00:21:15will henceforth find more courage
00:21:20to confront him, because many of
00:21:24them consider him responsible for the blatant defeat
00:21:27that Republicans suffered yesterday in the elections.
00:21:31In the message that Mr. Vance posted on social media,
00:21:34one issue that has attracted a lot of attention is that
00:21:38the Vice President of the United States is talking about reconsidering his policy
00:21:42towards Israel. From your perspective,
00:21:45have American politicians
00:21:48possibly come to the conclusion that they should reconsider
00:21:52this? Look, in my opinion, besides the issue of the war
00:21:54in Iran, the second issue in terms of foreign policy where we
00:21:58can witness a serious difference in attitude
00:22:02is undoubtedly the issue of Israel.
00:22:05Even if Mr. Netanyahu, who currently seems to have lost
00:22:08the elections, in terms of being able
00:22:12to form another cabinet, even if he succeeds again,
00:22:15this time the US Congress will not have the same
00:22:19stance regarding financial aid to Israel.
00:22:23Because we saw in the votes how much the view, especially
00:22:27of the young American generation, has become negative towards
00:22:31Israel. They do not agree with
00:22:34the operations that the Israelis carried out in Gaza and so on.
00:22:37When Democrats control Congress, they can put
00:22:41more pressure on the government in this regard. The fact that Mr.
00:22:44Trump has also announced that, for example,
00:22:48he will cut financial aid to Israel, which we know is the largest
00:22:52financial aid from the US to any country, will be a response
00:22:56to the actions that Democrats will take
00:22:59to truly prevent the good
00:23:02relations that existed between Mr. Trump and Netanyahu
00:23:06from continuing for a long time.
00:23:09Therefore, yes, Israel will also be
00:23:13another loser in these elections. Thank you, Mehrzad Boroujerdi,
00:23:17Professor of Political Science at
00:23:20Missouri University of Science and Technology,
00:23:23is with us. The website of Mojtaba Khamenei, the leader
00:23:27of Iran, implicitly referred to the US elections in a written message
00:23:31from him on the occasion of November 4th, the anniversary of the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran,
00:23:35and said that if some people have a little hope
00:23:38for partisan and factional shifts in that country, they are gravely
00:23:41mistaken. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also said
00:23:45that Americans said no to war in these elections, and Iran
00:23:49also supports this. Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of the Supreme National
00:23:53Security Council, also said that the great Iranian nation inflicted
00:23:56a major strategic defeat on Trump in the battlefield and the Strait of Hormuz, and
00:24:00also a heavy political defeat in Washington.
00:24:03Mohammad Amini reports.
00:24:05The
00:24:10midterm elections for the US legislative bodies and the heavy
00:24:13defeat of Republicans are being closely followed in Iran.
00:24:17Senior
00:24:20officials of the regime linked the defeat of Trump's party
00:24:23in this election to the war with Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei,
00:24:27the leader of the Islamic Republic, who has not been seen in public
00:24:31since assuming the leadership, reacted to the US elections
00:24:34in a message on the occasion of November 4th. It is not known
00:24:38whether he was aware of the results of the US elections
00:24:42at the time this message was written or not. But in his message, he said
00:24:45that partisan and factional changes in the US system
00:24:49will not change that country's hostility
00:24:53towards Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei
00:24:55focused more on the war with the US and said
00:24:59that if the US continues its military actions against Iran,
00:25:03Iran's response will take on much broader
00:25:07dimensions. However, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker
00:25:10of the parliament, made an explicit reference to the results of the US elections.
00:25:14He wrote on the X network: The American people, whether out of
00:25:18conscience or under pressure from the cost of living,
00:25:22said no to war, and we also confirm
00:25:25this message. He continued that if the US
00:25:29government disregards the Americans' no, it will face
00:25:32the Iranians' no, which will appear
00:25:36in the form of a nightmare. One of Mr. Ghalibaf's deputies
00:25:40also used the term political defeat. The delusional
00:25:43American president, who sought victory through bluster
00:25:47on social media, has also been defeated
00:25:51in his domestic policy, and these defeats are
00:25:54aftershocks of the defeat against the Iranian nation.
00:25:58Media outlets close to the Revolutionary Guard, such as Khabar
00:26:02Bargozari Tasnim, dedicated their main page to
00:26:06the US elections and their results.
00:26:08It is still unclear what the effect of the electoral
00:26:12defeat of Mr. Trump and the Republicans will be on the US military
00:26:15plans towards Iran. It has been reported that the US president
00:26:19has no plans to attack Iran for now.
00:26:23It may take some time for the Trump administration
00:26:26to digest the shock of the blue wave tsunami
00:26:30of Democrats across the US. Mohammad
00:26:34Amini, BBC In
00:26:37conclusion of this news segment, I would also like to say that you can visit our website at any time
00:26:40of the day or night and follow the latest news from there.
00:26:44My colleagues are right now live
00:26:47on our website, updating it moment
00:26:51by moment, where you can read the latest news
00:26:55and reactions to the results of the US midterm elections.
00:26:58Right now, you can also see that Mr. Trump said that the impact of the war on the defeat
00:27:02of Republicans is largely true. He is referring
00:27:06to a post by J.D. Vance, his deputy,
00:27:09who said that the biggest impact
00:27:13and reason for what happened in this election is the war with Iran,
00:27:17which has raised the cost of living in the US.
00:27:20Read more details on our website at
00:27:23BBCper.com.
00:27:25This news segment has come to an end. Thank you for being with us, and thank you for choosing
00:27:29BBC Persian.
00:27:47The intelligence and security breaches of the Islamic Republic have made it
00:27:51vulnerable to Israel. What is the reason for this
00:27:54level of Israeli intelligence penetration into the structure of the Islamic Republic,
00:27:58and why has Israel not been able
00:28:01to achieve its desired outcome using
00:28:04this intelligence and security asset?
00:28:07There is a difference between your security and intelligence
00:28:10success in infiltrating and eroding a political
00:28:13system and your ability to change
00:28:17political power. There is no power or strength except in God.
00:28:21Why don't you look at the pictures
00:28:21you have?
00:28:26They put me in a governmental shelter, and the children went in one
00:28:30direction, and I went in another. And I settled. My son, Saeed, who was not yet
00:28:34two and a half or three years old, came and sat with me.
00:28:38I told my mom, I want to tell you something. Keep your name,
00:28:41and your sister's name, and your siblings' names,
00:28:45and the crime, that is, changing the child's lineage. SOS
00:28:49International was aware of most of the details, meaning
00:28:52all the children must be admitted to the children's section. They must have regular
00:28:56reports sent to the main office in the city, but
00:29:00I feel like he is acting. Of course, they are acting.
00:29:07Videos like this are all over social media,
00:29:11easily produced, high volume, and often very
00:29:14weird. AI is making it easier to scam us. It
00:29:18was my voice, it was my phone number. On that day I
00:29:22hadn't spoken to her. In the age of artificial
00:29:25intelligence, Panorama asks, is
00:29:28seeing still believing?
00:30:20The fall of the strongholds of Republicans in the US midterm
00:30:23elections. Democrats took
00:30:27both houses of Congress.
00:30:28Trump and Vance acknowledge
00:30:34the impact of the war on the Republican defeat.
00:30:38The US president, however, still defends his decision to attack
00:30:41Iran.
00:30:42Reactions of Iranian officials to
00:30:48the results of the US midterm elections, from expressing
00:30:52confidence in the continuation.