Iran hardliners demand US ‘pays the price’ before war ends, emboldened by GOP defeat - report

Iranian hardliners are seizing on President Donald Trump's midterm defeat to push for a tougher line in negotiations, with a Raja News column demanding the US 'pays the price' before the war ends. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned against 'submission,' and an analyst told CNN Iran sees no reason for nuclear concessions.

Iranian hardliners are seizing on President Donald Trump's midterm election defeat to push for a tougher line in negotiations with Washington, demanding that any end to the war come with a 'new world order' favoring the Islamic Republic, CNN reported on Sunday. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned on Wednesday against the 'slightest inclination towards submission,' a message hardliners believe was aimed at Iran's negotiators. A column in the hardline outlet Raja News argued that the US should not be given a 'way out' before it 'pays the price' for attacking Iran. The rhetoric hardened after Trump acknowledged that the war was partly to blame for Republican losses, and Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that 'the reason we lost is the war.' Hamidreza Azizi, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, told CNN that the Iranian leadership sees the election results as vindication and sees no reason to offer Trump any nuclear concessions. Eight months in, the war has settled into a stalemate, with Qatari mediators trying to bridge gaps. The US has struck Iran's Qeshm Island several times over the past week, though both sides have downplayed the strikes. Tehran has set seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including ending the war 'on all fronts,' compensation, withdrawal of US forces, and lifting of sanctions. The framing relies on a single hardline outlet and one analyst to suggest a broader shift in Iranian strategy.