APPLENEWS - STORY ADD
Iran live updates: Americans 'said NO TO WAR,' Ghalibaf says of midterm results
Ghalibaf said Iran remained ready to meet any new attacks.
Talks between the U.S. and Iran remain stalled despite the two countries signing a memorandum of understanding in June, aimed at ending the war that began with joint American-Israeli strikes on the country in February. The opening strikes killed a host of top Iranian officials and commanders, among them Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The two sides have continued to exchange strikes, though have not returned to the intense fighting seen in the early stages of the conflict. The U.S. says it is enforcing a naval blockade of the country's Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman ports, while Iran claims control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz and continues to claim attacks on shipping transiting the waterway.
Meanwhile, intensified fighting between Saudi-backed Yemeni forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen has seen the latter repeatedly attack Saudi military, oil infrastructure and transport facilities.
See the most recent developments below.
Key Headlines
Khamenei says US suffering 'irreversible decline' amid war
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Wednesday that U.S. military and soft power had suffered an "irreversible decline" in the ongoing conflict with Tehran in the Middle East.
In a series of statements posted to Telegram, Khamenei -- who has not been seen in public since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran in February -- said that American "unhindered presence and dominance in the region is nothing more than a pipe dream."
The statements were released on Wednesday to mark the 47th anniversary of the storming of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979.
"Currently, the scene in the Persian Gulf, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, continues to demonstrate the fallacy of the myth of American invincibility," Khamenei's statements read. Iran's response to the U.S. attack, he added, "represented an initial act of defiance against global arrogance on a regional scale, which will take on a much larger dimension if these transgressions are repeated."
"The slightest inclination towards surrender will embolden the arrogant enemy," Khamenei said, urging stronger deterrence measures by Tehran.
Anyone with "even the slightest hope" that the U.S. would change its approach "through partisan or factional shifts" is "seriously mistaken," he continued.
"The power and hegemony of the United States, in both its hard military power and its soft international influence, have suffered an irreversible decline, and the process of its collapse is accelerating," Khamenei said, describing the damage as "self-inflicted."
Americans 'said NO TO WAR,' Ghalibaf says of midterm results
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf suggested in a post to X on Wednesday morning that the midterm election results indicated the opposition of American voters to the ongoing war with Iran.
"Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message," Ghalibaf wrote.
"If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare," he added.
2 vessels report attacks while traveling through Strait of Hormuz, UKMTO says
The UKMTO issued alerts on two attacks on vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
The Indian government reported an attack on an Indian crew Dhow while sailing through the strait. The Omani Royal Navy rescued the surviving crew, UKMTO said.
UKMTO said it is unaware of the status of the vessel.
The second incident was reported northeast of Lima, Oman, where a tanker security officer reported its engine room being struck by two unknown projectiles, according to the UKMTO.
No casualties or environmental impact have been reported in the second incident, according to the UKMTO.
"Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO," the UKMTO said.
-ABC News' Will Gretsky
Tehran's 'finger on the trigger,' Ghalibaf says amid negotiations
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament who led Tehran's delegation in peace talks with the U.S. earlier this year, said on Tuesday that the onus is now on the U.S. to prevent a return to war after Iran delivered what he called a "firm and rational response" in ongoing negotiations.
"Just as the Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready for battle with its finger on the trigger, it has also delivered a firm and rational response to the American side. The ball is now in America's court to prevent war," Ghalibaf said in comments carried by Iran's state-run television network, IRIB.
"Meanwhile, from the military and defensive point of view we are at the highest level of preparedness," Ghalibaf added.
-ABC News' Nasser Atta and Othon Leyva