The Ideology Machine

The Ideology Machine

“Hormuzgate”: How Tehran Fought the American Midterms

Tehran squeezed global chokepoints and leaned on its proxies to break Trump’s majority, betting it can outlast a White House that refuses to recalculate.

Fatima Abo Alasrar's avatar
Fatima Abo Alasrar
Nov 07, 2026

The morning after the midterm results came in, cartoons mocking Trump were front and center across more than a dozen papers in Tehran, most of them gloating over his party’s defeat and having fun with their graphic depictions of the president.

Reading Iranian media, it’s hard to miss how exhilarated the Iranian establishment is by the midterm election results, not because Tehran favors the Democrats over the Republicans, but because its leaders wanted to see the American president who took them to war, and who gleefully announced the killing of their Supreme Leader, watch his party go down, as they see it, over that very war.

Collage of various Axis of Resistance information after the midterms

Washington isn’t changing its strategy, but you can upgrade yours.

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