US mid-terms Hot

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is also Iran's chief negotiator, posted on X after the vote. He said Americans had chosen peace, whether out of conscience or because of the cost of living, and that Iran supported that message.

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that US hostility would continue whichever party held power. He said Washington thought the end of its dominance was far off, while Iran thought it was close.

Iranian media ran triumphant and mocking coverage. At a state-organised rally in Tehran, a demonstrator who gave only his family name, Nazari, said the power of the Republicans had been broken.

Senior Iranian officials said Tehran had deliberately prolonged talks with the US to weaken Trump politically before the vote. Two senior Iranian sources said Trump could try to make up for the result with a military strike.

Trump told Fox News that Iran was part of the reason for the result. He said voters also understood the importance of what he had done on Iran. The US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, and the war is in its ninth month.Share

Democrat James Talarico beat Republican attorney general Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race. Annie Andrews, a paediatrician, beat Republican senator Darline Graham in South Carolina. Reports said Democrats also won Senate races in Ohio, Kansas and North Carolina, and flipped eight Republican House seats.

Exit polls showed three-quarters of voters were angry or dissatisfied with the direction of the country. Half saw the vote as a chance to rebuke the president. 70% wanted Congress to provide more checks on him. Reports linked the anger to fuel price rises after Trump launched a war against Iran in February.

Trump wrote on social media that he was not on the ballot and would have won in a landslide if he had been. He also told media outlets he would accept the results and work with Democrats. Senator Jon Ossoff said voters had rebuked Trump after his projected win in Georgia.

Before the vote, the Justice Department deployed 1,000 monitors to all 50 states. Democrats criticised the plan as possible voter intimidation. Analysts said winning Congress could bring Democrats pressure to address economic worries.Share

Ramaphosa said South Africa's suspension from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from January is a negative. The announcement of the suspension came on Monday. He said the country was sad to be removed, but trade relations with the US continue.

He said the focus should now be on negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the US.

Reports of US President Donald Trump's statements say he has targeted South Africa largely over what he calls the persecution of white people. South Africa says this claim is a false narrative spread by fringe groups.Share

Ramaphosa said the Democrats had taken control of the Senate and the House, and that the people of America had spoken. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Americans voted against policies that impoverish people, and against hatred, sexism and climate denial.

Bernd Lange, head of the European parliament's international trade committee, called the result a crushing blow to US President Donald Trump and his policies. Ines Schwerdtner, joint leader of Germany's Left Party, called it a defeat for the global right. Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer said Americans had said no to war.

Some leaders expected a hard period for the US government. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the rest of Trump's term would be about impeachment, vetoes and paralysis. Belgian defence minister Theo Francken said governing the US would be almost impossible in the coming years.

Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany's far-right AFD, said Trump had broken a promise to avoid an interventionist foreign policy. French National Rally president Jordan Bardella said US intervention regarding Iran would carry heavy consequences for the US and European economies. One report said the result could affect global trade, security and energy prices.Share

Trump spoke on Tuesday in an interview with Fox News. He said some Democrats and left-wing politicians use US financial support to Israel as a talking point against Republicans. He said the US cannot allow that to continue. Netanyahu's office had not commented.

The US gives Israel $3.8bn a year in military aid under a memorandum of understanding that nears expiry in 2028. Netanyahu said in a May interview that he hoped to wean Israel off US military support within a decade.

A Quinnipiac University poll in June found that 48% of voters believe the US is too supportive of Israel. Among Democrats the figure was 66%. When the question was first asked in 2017, the figures were 16% for voters and 20% for Democrats.Share

The dollar index fell 0.6% to 101.27, its lowest level in a month. The euro rose 0.6% to $1.1258, and sterling gained 0.3% to $1.3458. The 10-year US Treasury yield dropped by nearly 5 basis points to 4.915%.

Gold rose 2.2% to $4,017 per ounce in early trading. Platinum rose 2.9% to $1,460. Oil edged down to $102.9 a barrel. Reports said Democrats had flipped six Republican Senate seats so far.

Moh Siong Sim, a currency strategist at OCBC, said the price moves fit concerns about closer scrutiny of AI under a Democratic sweep. He added that passing federal laws would still be hard under President Donald Trump.

Carol Kong, a currency strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said strong US data should support more rate hikes and the dollar. She said oil could jump if Trump escalates the conflict in the Middle East. Markets expect the Bank of England to raise rates for the first time since August 2023.Share

El-Sayed is 42 and a former public health official. Rogers is 63 and a former congressman and FBI agent. US President Donald Trump backed Rogers.

Republicans held a 53-47 majority in the Senate going into the midterm elections. Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to take control of the chamber.

Rogers tried to portray El-Sayed as a radical sympathetic to Islamic extremism, through alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Those claims remain unsupported by evidence, and El-Sayed denies them. Democrats said the attacks relied on Islamophobic tropes.

Rogers also said that ending the war in Iran and the US trade dispute with Canada was necessary to help bring down costs for businesses and consumers.Share

Democrats won majorities in both chambers of Congress in the US midterm elections, while vote counting was still under way. Trading was volatile. Priyanka Sachdeva, head of market insights at Phillip Nova, said US President Donald Trump's mixed signals made it hard for traders to take a firm view. She said the military strikes continued while he downplayed further escalation.

Sachdeva also said some profit-taking and fewer speculative long positions were justified after the sharp rally in October.

A US official said the US carried out defensive strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island. The official said they targeted surface-to-air missiles used against US assets. Another US official said the strikes appeared limited and did not signal a return to major combat operations. A senior Iranian official said Iran and the US remained far from a deal to end the war.

US crude stocks fell by 5.27-million barrels in the week ended 30 October, according to American Petroleum Institute data. Gasoline stocks rose by 1.43-million barrels, and distillate inventories fell by 1.19-million barrels. Haitong Futures said diesel inventories remain tight and gasoline stocks rose more than expected. It said the data broadly support oil prices.Share

The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Freedom Front Plus, both partners in the Government of National Unity, blamed the ANC for the decision. DA MP Ryan Smith said the exclusion was avoidable and unnecessary. He blamed International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola and called him diplomatically inept.

Freedom Front Plus leader Corne Mulder said the US demands on South Africa were not unreasonable. He said Lamola refused to meet US requirements for normalising relations. The DA and the Freedom Front Plus predicted thousands of job losses and industry closures.

The government said South Africa will suffer losses because it must now pay tariffs on exports that were exempt from duties. The two parties urged voters to turn against the ANC in the ballot on Wednesday.

Former US diplomat Brooks Spector said the US midterm elections are unlikely to change the decision. He said the US president and his administration hold the power to decide which countries are eligible. He added that South Africa can still make its case to be included again.Share

Democrats also flipped Senate seats in Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio. Paxton was Trump's handpicked Republican candidate in Texas. Jon Ossoff held his Democratic seat in Georgia, and Abdul El-Sayed was fighting to keep the party's hold on a seat in Michigan.

Democrats have flipped eight House seats so far. Analysts began to predict a big Democratic victory in the House. Kansas last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1932.

Polls pointed to public anger over Trump's handling of the economy after the war in Iran. They said fuel prices rose sharply and the cost of living went up. Columnist Ed Luce wrote that Trump's heavy-handed input backfired in several midterm races.Share

The strike took place on 2 November, on the eve of the US midterm elections. Washington said the move was defensive.

President Donald Trump and the Republicans have found it hard to defend the war against Iran in their campaigns. Reports say the war is unpopular.Share

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state media that indirect talks with Washington were taking place through mediators. He said consultations were very intensive. US Vice President JD Vance said the US had made some progress and would see if it could make more.

A senior Iranian official said Tehran was ready to open the strait within two days if Washington agreed to its list of demands. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Iran wanted a settlement as soon as possible.

Hours later, a Wall Street Journal report said the US had carried out a string of limited, secret strikes on Iran in recent weeks. Iranian state media reported five explosions on Qeshm island. The report weakened the diplomatic overtures.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei warned that any act of aggression would meet a response that was powerful, immediate and comprehensive. Trump said he might still have to give Iran "the hammer" at some point. He said he also had to deal with one or two targets, including Pickaxe mountain, a suspected nuclear site that Tehran denies is one.Share

Trump told the crowd the US may have to give Tehran "the hammer" at some point. He said the only reason he is not finished with Iran is that he wants to be nice and save lives.

He gave the rally speech in Iowa, days before the US midterm elections on November 3. In the speech, he said: "And the only reason why I'm not finished with Iran is I want to be nice."Share

The US District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed the case with prejudice. The ruling ends Trump's pursuit of the refiled defamation suit. Gayles wrote that the paper's investigation was thoughtful and detailed.

Trump's lawyers argued that the paper should have dropped the story after he denied involvement with Epstein. The judge rejected the case as a whole. He wrote: "As with his first attempt, he has failed,"Share

Thompson sits in the Northern District of California. Her order expires on 16 November. The United States holds its midterm election on 3 November.

The Justice Department had sought to set aside the ballots of more than 20,000 California voters, saying they might not be citizens. A federal judge rejected that move on Wednesday and called it brazen pre-election interference.

Critics say the administration of President Donald Trump is trying to cast doubt on election results. The order says the defendants "shall not threaten, intimidate or coerce state or local elections officials or workers" over the processing of ballots.Share