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In the US midterm elections, Democrats have secured majority in the Senate and House of Representatives. With this, the Democratic Party will now have control over Congress during the remaining tenure of Donald Trump.
This change in Congress after the elections is being considered as a blow to President Trump. After the election results, Trump said, "Many Republican Party candidates had to face defeat due to the war with Iran and rising inflation."
At the same time, Vice President JD Vance said that our defeat was due to the Iran war.
BBC News journalists told what effect these election results will have on the rest of the world.
What did Iran say on Trump's defeat?
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According to Goncheh Habibiazad, senior BBC News Persian reporter based in London, "Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei says that those who think that the change in American politics will change their hostility towards Iran are wrong."
"Khamenei also threatened that if the US attacked Iran again, the retaliation would be even more dire."
Mojtaba Khamenei took office on February 28, succeeding his father Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the US-Israeli attacks. However, he has not appeared in public for months.
Khamenei has written these things in a six-page message released on Wednesday. This message has been issued in memory of the capture of the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
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Impact on Gulf Arab countries
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According to BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, "This defeat is an electoral blow to 'Project Trump', which in another era could have been considered a blow to the Arab countries of the Gulf."
President Trump and his family have personal and business relationships with many of these countries. There is a Trump International Golf Course in Dubai. Qatar has gifted him an aircraft worth US$400 million.
The United Arab Emirates i.e. UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have together invested billions of dollars in Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's firm Affinity Capital.
Trump also chose Riyadh for his first foreign trip during his first presidential term in 2017.
Saudi Arabia's relations were not good with Democratic Party leader and former President Joe Biden. You will remember that incident of the year 2022, in which Biden was seen avoiding shaking hands with the Saudi Crown Prince.
At the same time, the leaders of Gulf countries had expressed their anger towards President Obama after not being able to punish former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the use of poisonous gas.
But this year's war with Iran has changed people's thinking about Trump.
One commentator on this incident said that President Trump set fire to the Gulf.
"It started on February 28. And there is still a fear that they could rekindle the war. In response, Iran retaliated, destroying many critical infrastructures."
Where is Iran in the election results?
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According to BBC reporter Rebecca Pedder from Washington DC, "Vice President JD Vance says the reason for the Republican Party's crushing defeat is the war with Iran."
"Due to this war, inflation has increased in America, the effect of which is visible in the form of increased prices at petrol pumps."
Trump had promised to bring down petrol prices below $2 per gallon while campaigning for the 2024 presidential election. Whereas in October 2026 its average price was $ 4.31 per gallon. He had also promised that there would be no new war in the second term.
But just a day before the midterm elections, America attacked an Iranian island. At the same time, Trump told reporters that he has no regrets about starting the war.
Responding to the election results, Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the US said, "American voters do not like war."
But Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said in a statement that he does not expect a change in US policy even after the results.
Speaking to the BBC's US affiliate CBS News, Trump said the war would "end when I say it's over."
China has the upper hand?
According to BBC News China correspondent Laura Bicker, "As the results come in, China will see an opportunity in this."
There is a race between China and America to become the biggest superpower of this century. President Xi Jinping probably feels that he has the upper hand. They are preparing to welcome Donald Trump in China.
To protect American industry from cheap Chinese goods, Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods coming to America.
But Xi Jinping responded by imposing even heavier tariffs, which foiled Trump's plan. The result was that many things became expensive for Americans. These also included small items like toys and clothes.
China also stopped purchasing American agricultural products. Due to this, farmers of states supporting Trump also suffered losses.
The ongoing tariff war between the two countries may come to an end in the last week of January. China may feel that Trump will try to compromise after the results of the midterm elections.
Xi Jinping hopes to get a better deal for China from this visit.
Russia still has hope
According to BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg, "Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media: 'We fully expect Donald Trump to continue his peace efforts.'"
Peskov said, "There will be another round of trilateral meetings soon." He was referring to the trilateral talks to be held between Russia, Ukraine and America in Abu Dhabi next week.
He further said, "We have seen the successful humanitarian peace efforts of Melania Trump." He was referring to the humanitarian operation recently conducted in Russian-occupied Oleshki.
He also said, "We hope that these campaigns will continue."
According to Steve, "If peace efforts yield no results, Russia will probably blame Ukraine and Europe as before."
"Now Russia can blame the Democrats and the midterm elections for this. But, it probably will not blame Donald Trump. This is because Russia has invested a lot in its relationship with Trump. It is also clear that Russia still hopes to increase economic cooperation with the Trump administration."
What did the world's media write about the election results?
Image source: Tehran Times
BBC Monitoring wrote, "For people in Ukraine, Iran and across the Middle East, the US midterm elections were less about domestic politics and more about how the results would affect the ongoing wars."
In Ukraine, commentators focused on Trump's conduct of the war. Journalist Roman Tsymbalyuk sarcastically said, "The president solved every war, but lost his own."
This was a reference to Trump's repeated claims in which he talks about ending conflicts in the world.
Russia's attacks on Ukraine's power plants continue. Some people in Russia hope that the victory of the Democratic Party may further intensify the demand for tougher sanctions on Russia.
At the same time, others fear that the political deadlock in America could create new uncertainty in American policy regarding Ukraine.
Russia has openly expressed hope that Trump will continue to mediate to end the war. Russia-Ukraine talks are expected to take place this month.
But Russians who support the war have warned that the Democratic Party-controlled Congress could block any future agreements with Russia. Also, it will not give any relaxation in the sanctions imposed on Russia.
Meanwhile, Iran's leadership and government-linked media described the Democratic Party's victory as a public criticism of Trump's war policy. Iranian media pointed to the rising political costs of a military confrontation with Iran.
Published by Collective Newsroom for the BBC.
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