Iran urges Americans to vote against Trump’s allies as U.S. troops leave Iraq

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have urged Americans to vote against President Donald Trump’s allies in Congress, in a 26-page letter published on Tuesday, at a time when U.S. forces are expected to withdraw on Wednesday (today) from their remaining bases in neighbouring Iraq — a departure Tehran has celebrated, as Reuters reports.

The letter urges Americans to use their political power to remove the current leaders and to reject U.S. support for Israel and military interventions abroad. It calls for bad, deceptive and violent politicians responsible for America’s current state to be removed from power, and urges voters to make sure their politicians understand that the world has changed.

Although the letter is unlikely to influence American voters, it touches on issues analysts say are working against Trump and the Republican Party ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, when Democrats could regain control of one or both chambers of Congress. Trump campaigned in 2024 promising to avoid new wars, end conflicts and lower inflation, but the war with Iran, which Trump launched alongside Israel, has raised global fuel prices and spread across the Middle East, according to Reuters.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll of September 21 shows only 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living — the main issue that will determine November’s vote — while only 34% approve of the attacks on Iran. Meanwhile, Trump allowed the final withdrawal from Iraq on Wednesday, a deal reached in 2024 by former President Joe Biden. The withdrawal comes 23 years after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Qatar continues its diplomacy to end the seven-month Iran-U.S. war. U.S. and Iranian officials spoke separately with Qatari mediators on Monday, while Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said messages are being exchanged between the parties to find common ground for a deal. Trump repeated on Tuesday that he does not know whether Iran will surrender yet, but that it will, and that it is doing very badly.

At the UN General Assembly last week, Iran proposed a peace plan that would start a seven-day countdown to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and a pause in fighting, but Trump rejected the plan on Saturday. Iran says its ultimate goal is to force U.S. forces to leave the entire Middle East and presents the Iraq withdrawal as a triumph of the ‘axis of resistance’. The conflict has damaged Iran’s conventional forces and its already fragile economy, but Tehran has retaliated with missile and drone attacks on U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf and by restricting oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which has raised world energy prices. Before the war began in February, 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas passed through Hormuz, as Reuters reports.