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The massive electoral wipeout Republicans suffered on Tuesday did not go unnoticed by Iran’s leadership.According to Politico, Tehran took a victory lap as voters dealt a resounding blow to President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X as the results came in.Ghalibaf, who has played a prominent role in negotiations to end the monthslong war, also threatened retaliation if Washington resumes all-out fighting, Politico is reporting.“If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” he wrote.Tehran had been anxiously watching the midterms for weeks. According to Politico, Iranian negotiators reportedly even stalled recent talks to keep gas prices high and fuel voter frustration with the Trump administration over affordability.Iranian state media also had a field day as Democrats flipped both the House and the Senate, according to the report.“War on Iran Emerges As Major Factor in Republicans’ Midterm Defeat,” read one headline from Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.State-run IRNA led with a headline announcing a “heavy defeat for Trump and his supporters,” citing “an unprecedented level of dissatisfaction with US President Donald Trump,” driven in large part by the war.Some anti-war voices in Washington also declared the vote a win for Tehran, Politico also reported.“The Democrats didn’t win the midterms,” wrote Trita Parsi, co-founder of the anti-interventionist Quincy Institute. “Iran did.”

Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade took to Fox Business Tuesday to question President Donald Trump’s supposed decision to “cut off” all U.S. aid to Israel by the end of this year, accusing the president of giving in to the demands of some Democrats.Earlier on Tuesday, Trump ignited an international firestorm after claiming that he’d reached an agreement to end all U.S. aid to Israel within the next two months, potentially putting the roughly $4 billion in annual U.S. aid to Israel in jeopardy. Talks on phasing out such aid have been underway for months, but they’ve centered on a 10-year phaseout, not a cutoff by the end of 2026.“[Trump] went on to say the $4 billion, we’re gonna be cutting off to not give the Democrats a talking point... I don’t know,” Kilmeade said, speaking with Fox Business’ Stuart Varney. “I know their GDP is growing at a pretty good rate, and I know that economically they’ve been a miracle story even while fighting this war for the last four years, but I have no idea why you would give in to Democrats who want to cut off aid to Israel, our number-one ally in the region!”Varney echoed Kilmeade’s alarm, taking it a step further.“He seems like he is accommodating the anti-Israel feeling that is clearly growing in this country — and the president is accommodating it on Election Day!” Varney said.The announcement reportedly caught Israeli officials by surprise. The Israeli Finance Ministry, according to Fox News’ Jonathan Hunt, reporting live Tuesday from Tel Aviv, Israel, said it was “entirely unaware of any intention by the U.S. to cancel that $4 billion in aid.” Israeli politician Yair Golan said Trump’s announcement was a “severe blow to Israel’s security and the quality of life within the country.”“It really caught me by surprise,” Kilmeade continued. “And I’ll tell you, I have no patience for any antisemitism in this country and any anti-Israel sentiment. They’re not perfect, but they’re a democracy and they’re our ally and they’re literally surrounded by enemies — they have no choice!”

President Donald Trump ignited an international firestorm Tuesday after casually claiming that U.S. aid to Israel would be “cut off” by the end of this year, leaving Israeli officials scrambling to make sense of the surprise announcement.“Let’s get to that breaking news that is causing a political and financial earthquake here in the region,” said Fox News’ Jonathan Hunt, reporting live Tuesday from Tel Aviv, Israel. “The president saying it’s not just about Israel’s needs, but it’s also about taking away a talking point that Democrats have been using against Republicans.”Israel is by far the greatest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, receiving more than $300 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1948. The aid has come under scrutiny in recent years as Israel has carried out its ongoing military bombardment of Gaza, which countless human rights groups and a United Nations committee have labeled a genocide.Earlier on Tuesday, Trump called into “Fox & Friends” and casually dropped the announcement, confusing Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, who pressed the president for answers.“We were giving them $4 billion [annually] — we are — but it gets cut off at the end of the year,” Trump told Kilmeade.“Why?” Kilmeade asked, to which Trump said the decision was made “because they don’t need it.”Trump’s announcement came one day after Iran fired surface-to-air missiles at U.S. aircraft flying over the Strait of Hormuz, prompting the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Qeshm Island, which sits in the middle of the strait. The announcement also confused Israeli officials, who said, according to Hunt, that the revelation came as a complete surprise.“The Israeli Finance Ministry now reportedly telling local media here that they were entirely unaware of any intention by the U.S. to cancel that $4 billion in aid, so it really is a political and financial earthquake here in the region,” Hunt said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has supported a plan to phase out U.S. aid to Israel, but over a period of 10 years. However, he’s also backed a plan to integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries in such a manner that critics warn would be difficult to reverse.

A previously unseen family archive offers a glimpse into the Indian Nobel prize winner’s artistic process and personal relationships in his final yearsDon’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereIt’s easy to run out of words to describe Rabindranath Tagore. The first non-European to win the Nobel prize in literature, Tagore was a Bengali poet, musician, novelist, philosopher, songwriter, painter, humanist and educator.Born in 1861, Tagore left an indelible mark on the subcontinent’s literature, music, education and art. Among his enduring legacies are the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. Continue reading...

A strange brag President Donald Trump let out during his rally in Iowa on Sunday immediately blew up in his face. Trump traveled to Dubuque, Iowa, to rally for Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) as she seeks higher office in the Senate against Democratic challenger Josh Turek. During his speech, Trump made an unsettling claim about his ability to "win" wars, and how he would have handled some of the biggest conflicts in U.S. history. "I could have won Vietnam in a week," Trump said. "They dropped whatever the hell that crap is that hit the forest: Agent Orange! Instead of going after Ho Chi Minh and the other cities."Trump also claimed he could have solved the war in Afghanistan in a "week" as well. The president's comments didn't land well with several political analysts. Gregory Brew, an Iranian oil analyst for the Eurasia Group, argued that Trump's comment was a "curious" one to make. "Throughout the entirety of Trump's first term, the U.S. was at war in Afghanistan. Not only did he not win it, but his administration negotiated the deal that made the events of 2021 essentially unavoidable. This is a curious boast to make," he posted on X. Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Dispatch, said that Trump had an opportunity to prove his boast true during his first term, but failed to do so. "He could have 'won' Afghanistan during his first term. But he spent most of it trying to get out," Goldberg posted on X. Alex Cole, a liberal news creator, highlighted a glaring irony in Trump's comments. "Draft dodger Trump couldn't defeat algae in a swimming pool, but he was going to conquer the jungles of Vietnam in a week," Cole wrote in a post on X. Alex Ward, a national security reporter for The Wall Street Journal, posted on X that Trump's deal with the Taliban during his first term set the stage for a disastrous end to another war Trump claims he would have better solved. "Trump oversaw four years of the war in Afghanistan, and made a deal with the Taliban—cutting out the Afghan government—that set the table for Biden’s disastrous withdrawal," Ward posted. Trump: I would’ve won The Vietnam War in a week. I would’ve won the war in Afghanistan. https://t.co/eaWK6o2pnb— Acyn (@Acyn) November 1, 2026

One of President Donald Trump's right-wing allies hounded him to restart the war in Iran during a "direct and pointed" call on Saturday, according to a new report. Two sources familiar with the call told Israeli outlet N12 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed Trump to restart the war instead of letting negotiations play out. "According to the sources, Netanyahu is pressuring Trump to resume the war against Iran immediately after the midterm elections on November 3, and he is concerned about the negotiations currently underway," the report reads in part. "Trump, on the other hand, is interested at this stage in letting the negotiations exhaust themselves and does not want Israel to interfere. If he fails, of course, this could change significantly." Reports have indicated that Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia's Mohammed Bin Salman had pushed Trump to launch the war against Iran in the first place. The war has significantly affected the global economy, sending diesel prices skyrocketing because of the attacks on ships attempting passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Led by Congress party, India’s opposition alliance channels anger over removal of 130 million names from voter rollThousands of opposition supporters have gathered in Delhi as protests against the Narendra Modi government continue to gather momentum.Led by the Congress party, India’s opposition alliance has brought together supporters from across the country, amid growing anger over a large-scale revision of the country’s voter roll that has seen 130 million names erased. Continue reading...

A U.S. official warned that President Donald Trump may authorize a major military operation against Iran if he “feels embarrassed or disenfranchised” after the midterms, sparking panic among countless onlookers.“The mad King theory just might be the right theory. But so sad for our country,” wrote Yale University professor Howard Forman, referencing a political theory that suggests a political figure being perceived as mad can help boost credibility.The initial warning was reported by Axios’ Barak Ravid, who claimed that the unnamed U.S. official warned that Trump “might be more inclined to order a major military operation if Republicans lose badly in the midterms.”“If he feels embarrassed or disenfranchised he will do something bold,” the U.S. official said, according to Ravid. “That’s what everyone are telling the Iranians. Their best shot to get a deal is right now.”Iran was sent a draft peace plan on Sunday by Qatari mediators, Reuters reported, as talks between Washington and Tehran continue. A senior Iranian official, however, has already “dismissed the proposals as unacceptable,” according to Reuters.With the midterms fast approaching on Tuesday, and with Republicans facing an increasingly dire midterm outlook, critics feared a deadly escalation could be imminent.“A slightly different/more accurate way to phrase this is Trump requires a kind of executive self-soothing,” wrote journalist Josh Marshall, editor-in-chief of Talking Points Memo. “His loss of power/popularity at home requires him to focus on areas of presidency where his power is essentially unlimited to try to reassert a sense of dominance.”Others, like Tommy Vietor, a former Obama administration official and Democratic political commentator, argued that the U.S. official’s warning was nothing more than an attempt to manipulate Tehran into accepting the Trump administration’s terms for ending the deeply unpopular conflict.“Give me a f------ break with this spin. You don’t need to regurgitate this bull----,” Vietor wrote in a social media post on X.Trump official says Trump might bomb Iran because his feelings are hurt.— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) October 31, 2026