Election loss fuels Iran defiance as Houthis strike Saudi airspace
Tehran leaders cite Tuesday's congressional results to justify a harder line against Washington, while Yemeni rebels claim new missile hits on Riyadh.
By Lina Lewis ·
Iranian officials interpreted Tuesday’s U.S. congressional election results as a mandate to resist American pressure in the ongoing regional conflict.
U.S. voters handed control of Congress to the Democratic Party on Tuesday, a shift that occurred amid rising fuel prices and frustration over the war with Iran. The outcome reduced President Donald Trump’s legislative power. Iranian negotiators and political leaders immediately framed the vote as a rejection of Washington’s military strategy.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, posted on X on Wednesday that Americans said no to war. He stated that Tehran endorses this message. Qalibaf warned that if the U.S. government ignores the vote, it will learn that Iran’s no comes with a nightmare.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, offered a different assessment. He dismissed the idea that the election results would change the U.S. approach to the Islamic Republic. Despite the mixed signals from Tehran, the region remains tense as talks continue to prevent renewed fighting.
Thousands of pro-government demonstrators marched through Tehran on Wednesday. The rally marked the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy. Participants burned American and Israeli flags and chanted slogans calling for the death of both nations.
In Yemen, Houthi rebels claimed they fired strikes on targets in Saudi Arabia. Spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group launched a ballistic missile at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. He described the hit as causing major damages to the facility. The Houthis also claimed to have fired a drone at a radar installation and a ballistic missile at a command center in Jazan province. The Saudi information ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Saudi civil defense authorities issued alerts for potential danger in Riyadh, Jazan, and Najran early Wednesday. The Houthis have targeted oil, logistics, and airport infrastructure in Saudi Arabia to counter what they describe as a blockade of Yemen. In the southwestern province of Taiz, Houthi health authorities reported that an airstrike killed at least seven people, including two children, in the district of Maqbanah. The strike wounded six other children. The Houthi-run health ministry blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack.
In Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported that an Israeli drone strike on a motorcycle in the village of Qabrikha killed one person and wounded another. The Israeli military stated it struck two suspects who were observing troops. The attack was the first drone strike of its kind in nearly a month. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire in late June ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war. UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned that Lebanon faces a security vacuum when the UNIFIL mission ends on December 31. He questioned who would monitor the Blue Line border without a third-party presence. The UN Security Council is scheduled to discuss the matter on November 19.
