Iran's chief negotiator says Americans voted 'no to war'

Four oil tankers were destroyed after hitting naval sea mines, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday, a day after US officials said the US military had launched strikes on the country.

The IRGC said two of the vessels were still burning, and two additional tankers had been seized, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. It said they were trying to travel through a prohibited southern route in the Strait of Hormuz.

The BBC has not independently verified the IRGC's claim, which came as US voters punished Republicans at the midterm elections, leading Iran's top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, to say the results showed Americans had said no to war.

He warned Washington not to betray its public.

The IRCG also reported three tankers had been destroyed after hitting mines early on Tuesday, and that they had shot down an MQ-9 drone over the Strait.

The earlier US strikes on Qeshm were in response to the IRGC firing on a US aircraft.

Ghalibaf, who is also Iran's parliamentary speaker, posted on X, external that the midterm results showed that whether it was "conscience or the cost of living, Americans said no to war, and we endorse this message".

"If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our 'no' comes with a nightmare."

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday acknowledged the poor results for Republican congress members was partly due to the war on Iran and the consequent increased gas prices, but that he didn't regret launching it. He told the BBC's partner CBS News that the conflict would end "when I say it ends".

In an interview with the Financial Times ahead of the midterm elections on Tuesday, Trump suggested he was happy with the state of the conflict, and that he didn't consider them to be "really in a war".

Asked about comments by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu that there would be another attack on Iran this week, Trump said they were "locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no need for it".

On Tuesday night, Trump told Fox News there were some people who would "love" to do a "heavy hit" on Iran.

"The only thing I can tell you with certainty, they will never have a nuclear weapon," Trump said.

Talks to end the conflict, which was triggered by joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, have been stalled for months, with little sign of a breakthrough.

Ghalibaf told a parliamentary session on Tuesday that Iran "will not surrender" and the responsibility to prevent a war lay with the US.

"If Washington makes another strategic mistake, it should know that this time it will face a new battlefield and will be even more desperate than it is today as it searches for a way out," Ghalibaf said.

Meanwhile Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian maintained his government had been trying to resolve the crisis "through dialogue".

"No-one will benefit from this war" if fighting is restarted, he said on Tuesday.

Iran, which closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to the attack, has said it will only reopen it if the US agrees to demands contained in its peace plan. Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei this week said the seven-step plan had been condensed, and could be implemented in two days if the US agreed.