The voting for the U.S. mid-term elections has come to an end, and states will continue to count and announce the results of the votes. The Republican Party has lost in several key states, and it is almost certain that the Democratic Party will control both the House of Representatives and the Senate. However, the Trump administration’s policy towards Iran remains in a state of constant flux between negotiations and actions.
Recently, Trump explicitly stated that he does not rule out military action after the midterm elections. However, in his latest statement, he emphasized that “the war with Iran will end when I desire.” Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sent a strong signal, stating that America’s hostility towards Iran would not change due to internal party changes, and warned that if the United States launched another attack, Iran’s countermeasures would expand further.
After the election window closes, whether the attack will escalate and to what extent has become a central question that both Tehran and Washington must face.
The outside world is particularly concerned about the policy direction after the election: whether Trump will act “immediately” after the election, as urged by Israel; whether the United States wants to limit conflicts within Iran, and whether Iran will extend its influence beyond the region; the safety of shipping in the Hormuz Strait and the Malacca Strait, the interconnected effects of the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, economic variables such as oil prices and US Treasury bond yields are all considered key indicators for assessing future conflicts.
In mid-October, Iranian strategic analyst Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm said in an interview with the Brazilian media Brasil de Fato that international political analyst Marco Fernandes, that Iran will face another war with the United States, and this will be a "short and devastating" conflict.
"From the American perspective, this will be a shorter but more violent conflict than the last one," he said, "This time, Iran believes there should be no restrictions, and it will attempt to inflict as much damage as possible on the United States."
Answer: Trump is more likely to take action after the election, especially if he loses. The most likely scenario is that he will lose the House of Representatives. If this happens, since the current lawmakers will still be in office for two months, it is very likely that Trump will launch an attack at the end of November or early December.
I believe that, from the American perspective, this war will be shorter than the last one, but much more intense. Whether the attacks involve total warfare, targeted assassinations, or precision strikes, Iran's response will be total warfare, which will extend far beyond this region, beyond Yemen, beyond the Gulf of Aden, and even beyond the resistance axis (including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Iraqi People's Mobilization Organization, Hamas in Palestine, and Houthi forces in Yemen). Iran is determined to end this war. The third round of fighting may occur within the next one or two months, and this will be the final round. One side will gain the upper hand and bring an end to everything.
Answer: We have gone through several stages. The first stage was the execution of assassinations, which was the initial American attack, but it ended in failure. Following that was the second wave of attacks, which was Iran's retaliation. Then came the Islamabad agreement, marking the beginning of the third stage, a contest of endurance on economic and political fronts between both sides. Now we are just entering the fourth stage: both sides are preparing for the final round, which will be a very bloody war.
Every party wants to decide three things: first, when the war will begin; second, where it will be fought—the United States wants to limit it to Iran, while Iran wants to expand the battlefield; third, at what cost.
Answer: I can’t say that. But I can tell you this: They will be surprised to see Iran in places where it has never been seen before. They will be forced to fight against Iran in the Indian Ocean, in distant oceans, in countries they never imagined would be involved in conflicts with Iran. Iran will make full use of everything it has at its disposal, including the latest generations of missiles and drones—weapons that have not been widely used yet, and have only been tested.
And then there’s the cost. During the previous 12-day war (June 2025) and the 40-day war (February to April 2026), Iran intended to take control of the situation and respond with sufficient intensity, but not to trigger a larger-scale war. This time, Iran believes that there should be no restrictions, and it will attempt to make the United States pay the highest possible price.
The United States is aware of this. For example, it cannot tolerate the complete closure of the Malacca Strait, which currently only applies to Saudi ships. If the United States brings in Britons and Frenchmen—who have promised to participate in defensive operations—I believe they will not go to the Hormuz region, but will instead station themselves around the Malacca Strait to protect Saudi energy interests. If they do this, the Malacca Strait will be closed by the Yemenis themselves; the Yemenis are more capable than ever after their recent victories.
Iran warns that its response this time will be "disproportionate". When you attack a oil tanker, you must be very careful to avoid killing the crew, as your goal is simply to make the ship deviate from its course. In a full-scale war, you cannot guarantee anything, and there will be a lot of bloodshed.
Trump has been trying to defeat his opponent by escalating conflicts, which is what's known as "madness tactics." In this round, he has lost this card. Now, it's Iran that is embracing escalation in order to end everything. Until a few weeks ago, whenever Iran attacked ships attempting to illegally cross the Strait of Hormuz, the United States would respond. Over the past few weeks, Iran has been targeting oil tankers, and the United States has not responded more strongly. This indicates that they do not want to escalate into unknown territory. This war will also be shorter, as the United States no longer has much ammunition left, but it will be devastating.
Answer: It depends on the perspective from whom you are looking. From the perspective of the US Treasury Secretary Bessen, we would have collapsed yesterday, but that’s not what happened. Iran has been under sanctions for forty or fifty years, and it has learned how to circumvent these sanctions. Sometimes it does so quietly, sometimes it creates a disturbance deliberately.
Iran has a vast territory, with a population of 80 to 90 million people. It borders 15 countries, 9 of which have land borders. It is impossible to effectively encircle such a large country. Since the beginning of encirclement efforts following the Islamabad Agreement, Iran has taken many measures to activate its land borders and strengthen ties with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Turkey, and Iraq. Railway and road transportation have developed, but this potential has not been fully utilized yet.
This does not mean that there is no pain. Sanctions cause pain, but the Iranians have learned to endure and to continue living as usual. Look at the streets of Tehran: people are shopping, going to stores. Foreign politicians and Europeans are surprised by this. A German told our officials that he doesn’t understand how normal life can continue, because their impression of a country that has suffered from war is like that of southern Lebanon, Syria, or Gaza.
Inflation is very high, and war has its costs, which is undeniable. But this war has increased the tolerance of the Iranian people, helping them to put aside their differences. Under foreign threats, some countries collapse and break apart, while others unite around a common flag, just as the people here do every night. On the nights we launch missiles, the streets become even more crowded.
Iranians have a civilization that spans 7000 years and a history as an empire that extends for 2500 years. They have experienced invasions by the Mongols, Arab invaders, and have learned how to endure as well as how to fight back. Iran still has several cards left to play, while the United States has already played all of its cards: cyberattacks, assassinations, bombings, assassinations of generals, leaders, and scientists, bombing cities and even schools, such as that school in Minab. This is why Iranians believe that the third round will be in their favor: it will end everything, and they will be the winners. This belief helps people endure economic hardships.
Answer: Because they have experienced two consecutive wars. In the first war, they lost their supreme military commander; in the second war, known as the “40-day war,” they lost their supreme leader. Sometimes, losing a leader can lead to the collapse and surrender of a nation, and this is precisely what Trump planned. Other times, it inspires people to seek revenge, and that’s exactly what happened on the second and third days. The sacrifice of a leader is shocking, but the Iranians did not accept it passively. Instead, they took to the streets to seek revenge, demanding that blood be paid with blood. And they are still doing so to this day.
Answer: That's exactly the case. Look at domestic politics in Iran. There have always been two major factions in Iran—the reformists and the revolutionaries. Anyone who isn’t on the stage will resort to any extreme measures to overthrow those who are on the stage. This is a bipolar political system. But in the past year and a half to two years, you don’t see such situations. I often tell my friends that Pehzehi is the luckiest president in the world, because no one has criticized him for anything. He is a reformist, leading a reformist government, but even revolutionaries don’t criticize him, even though they should. Everyone, including the media, says: Let’s do everything we can to help him. This is the latest product of war and American policy.
Whenever Iranians say, "We won’t cross the red line; the United States should agree to our conditions, but we support negotiations," many people criticize this statement, believing it isn’t correct. However, it has achieved an important effect: it has made Iranians from all walks of life realize that every effort has been made to prevent war. There is no other option but resistance. Otherwise, they will tear you and your country apart.
Answer: The world is in a transitional period where power is shifting from Western civilization to the East. For over a decade, even intellectuals in the United States and Europe have been saying this. In my opinion, the decade between 2020 and 2030 will be a time of painful transition, with more wars and conflicts occurring. No matter who holds power, the Western empire led by the United States will not let go easily.
If the world were not in a period of power transition, without such wars, then in my opinion, the future world would no longer be one dominated by oil or fossil fuels, but rather an AI-driven world, divided into two categories: masters and slaves—those who possess AI software and hardware, and the rest. One of the main conflicts between the East and West now is who will become the masters of future AI. Camps are being formed. Among the Gulf Arab states, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have decided to join the American camp, and Qatar is also investing heavily in this effort.
