{"id":"1793785788189-news-segment","slug":"iran-speaker-claims-vote-against-war","title":"Iran Speaker Claims Vote Against War","summary":"Democrats swept both chambers of Congress in the 2026 midterms — flipping at least six Senate seats and retaking the House with a likely 230-plus majority — and Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf responded on X that Americans had voted \"NO TO WAR.\" The war began Feb 28, 2026, with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and has driven up fuel prices by disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.\n\nVoters ranked the economy and cost of living as their top issues, and gasoline/grocery price surges after the Iran strikes became a drag on Republicans. Trump acknowledged to the WSJ that \"Iran was a piece of it\" but said he'd \"do it again.\"\n\nGhalibaf did post that Americans voted \"NO TO WAR\" after Democrats won both chambers, adding that if Washington ignores the public will it will learn \"our NO comes with a Nightmare.\"\n\nAP projected that Republican incumbent Jim Pillen won the Nebraska governor's race over Democratic challenger Lynne Walz. A listicle-style promo of weather/earth-visualization websites; no checkable factual claim. Same \"50 websites\" list content reposted by another account; no factual claim to check. Engagement-bait text mixing planet-interior and climate-trade phrases; no coherent factual claim. This is opinion commentary from a known climate-skeptic blog pushing back on a New York Times climate piece. California's historical cycle of flood, drought and fire is real, but that doesn't rebut the NYT's reporting on climate-worsened extremes — that's an editorial stance, not a discrete fact.\n\nThe EU is set to discuss continued support for Ukraine with the US, France, Germany, Britain, NATO and the World Bank, per The Guardian's live coverage.\n\nPer The Guardian, Miliband criticised Blair's slavery statement and defended Burnham's call for a proper apology; the UK position on reparations is unchanged.\n\nDemocrats have won control of both the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms, flipping Senate seats in Michigan, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, ","publishedAt":"2026-11-04T09:49:48.189Z","channel":{"id":"news","name":"Oncast News","language":"en"},"show":"Overnight","verification":{"status":"verified","leadVerdict":"TRUE","notes":"TRUE: Ghalibaf did post that Americans voted \"NO TO WAR\" after Democrats won both chambers, adding that if Washington ignores the public will it will learn \"our NO comes with a Nightmare.\"\nSource: [cnbc.com](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/us-midterm-elections-iran-war-speaker.html) NAMES: Ghalibaf = Speaker of Iran's parliament and Iran's chief negotiato (https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2117916363842826433)\n\nTRUE: AP projected that Republican incumbent Jim Pillen won the Nebraska governor's race over Democratic challenger Lynne Walz. A listicle-style promo of weather/earth-visualization websites; no checkable factual claim. Same \"50 websites\" list content reposted by another account; no factual claim to check. Engagement-bait text mixing planet-interior and climate-trade phrases; no coherent factual claim. This is opinion commentary from a known climate-skeptic blog pushing back on a New York Times climate piece. California's historical cycle of flood, drought and fire is real, but that doesn't rebut the NYT's reporting on climate-worsened extremes — that's an editorial stance, not a discrete fact.\nSource: AP (via Al Jazeera) POST 2116498157785981345: NOCLAIM N/A POST 2116352702540402846: NOCLAIM N/A POST 2115723711462637961: NOCLAIM N/A POST 2116157182286721339:  (https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2117916395828859189)\n\nTRUE: The EU is set to discuss continued support for Ukraine with the US, France, Germany, Britain, NATO and the World Bank, per The Guardian's live coverage.\nSource: The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/nov/04/eu-ukraine-russia-france-germany-us-nato-europe-latest-news)\n\nTRUE: Per The Guardian, Miliband criticised Blair's slavery statement and defended Burnham's call for a proper apology; the UK position on reparations is unchanged.\nSource: The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/nov/04/ed-miliband-andy-burnham-king-charles-labour-louise-haigh-alex-burghart-pmqs-conservatives-uk-politics-latest-news)\n\nTRUE: Democrats have won control of both the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms, flipping Senate seats in Michigan, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio. Human-interest color from expat watch parties; no factual claim needing a check.\nSource: [aljazeera.com](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/4/democrats-deliver-a-historic-routing-to-republicans-in-us-midterms) POST news:0cdf92476bc52504: NOCLAIM (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/nov/03/midterm-election-results-live-updates)","claims":[{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"Ghalibaf did post that Americans voted \"NO TO WAR\" after Democrats won both chambers, adding that if Washington ignores the public will it will learn \"our NO comes with a Nightmare.\"","sourceName":"[cnbc.com](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/us-midterm-elections-iran-war-speaker.html) NAMES: Ghalibaf = Speaker of Iran's parliament and Iran's chief negotiato","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2117916363842826433","claim":"Following Republican losses in the US midterm elections, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X that the results showed Americans were opposed to war. 🟠 Follow our LIVE Coverage: https://t.co/EeueuSya7b https://t.co/NDMHwGkGON","author":"Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish)"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"AP projected that Republican incumbent Jim Pillen won the Nebraska governor's race over Democratic challenger Lynne Walz. A listicle-style promo of weather/earth-visualization websites; no checkable factual claim. Same \"50 websites\" list content reposted by another account; no factual claim to check. Engagement-bait text mixing planet-interior and climate-trade phrases; no coherent factual claim. This is opinion commentary from a known climate-skeptic blog pushing back on a New York Times climate piece. California's historical cycle of flood, drought and fire is real, but that doesn't rebut the NYT's reporting on climate-worsened extremes — that's an editorial stance, not a discrete fact.","sourceName":"AP (via Al Jazeera) POST 2116498157785981345: NOCLAIM N/A POST 2116352702540402846: NOCLAIM N/A POST 2115723711462637961: NOCLAIM N/A POST 2116157182286721339: ","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2117916395828859189","claim":"Incumbent Governor Jim Pillen, a Republican, has won the Nebraska governor’s race, according to AP. Pillen defeated Democratic challenger Lynne Walz. 🟠 LIVE updates: https://t.co/CIbpnVcy3s https://t.co/5I6EWt3ZJO","author":"Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish)"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"The EU is set to discuss continued support for Ukraine with the US, France, Germany, Britain, NATO and the World Bank, per The Guardian's live coverage.","sourceName":"The Guardian","sourceUrl":"https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/nov/04/eu-ukraine-russia-france-germany-us-nato-europe-latest-news","claim":"EU to lead talks on support for Ukraine with US, Nato, partners – Europe live - European Commission will hold talks with the US, France, Germany, Britain, Nato, and the World Bank Meanwhile, Poland’s foreign minister Radosław Sikorski ridiculed the Polish right, which has been su","author":"The Guardian"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"Per The Guardian, Miliband criticised Blair's slavery statement and defended Burnham's call for a proper apology; the UK position on reparations is unchanged.","sourceName":"The Guardian","sourceUrl":"https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/nov/04/ed-miliband-andy-burnham-king-charles-labour-louise-haigh-alex-burghart-pmqs-conservatives-uk-politics-latest-news","claim":"Miliband criticises Blair’s slavery statement and defends Burnham’s plan for proper apology – UK politics live - The foreign secretary added that the UK will not shift its position on reparations Andy Burnham has described the Commonwealth as “more important today than ever befor","author":"The Guardian"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"Democrats have won control of both the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms, flipping Senate seats in Michigan, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio. Human-interest color from expat watch parties; no factual claim needing a check.","sourceName":"[aljazeera.com](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/4/democrats-deliver-a-historic-routing-to-republicans-in-us-midterms) POST news:0cdf92476bc52504: NOCLAIM","sourceUrl":"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/nov/03/midterm-election-results-live-updates","claim":"US midterm elections 2026 live updates: Democrats win control of Congress as voters punish Trump - Democrats flip Senate seats in Michigan, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio; voters reject Trump’s agenda in ‘blue wave’ Track live results from all 50 sta","author":"The Guardian"}]},"sources":[{"url":"https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2117916363842826433","name":"[cnbc.com](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/us-midterm-elections-iran-war-speaker.html) NAMES: Ghalibaf = Speaker of Iran's parliament and Iran's chief negotiato","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish)"},{"url":"https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2117916395828859189","name":"AP (via Al Jazeera) POST 2116498157785981345: NOCLAIM N/A POST 2116352702540402846: NOCLAIM N/A POST 2115723711462637961: NOCLAIM N/A POST 2116157182286721339: ","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish)"},{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/nov/04/eu-ukraine-russia-france-germany-us-nato-europe-latest-news","name":"The Guardian","kind":"news","verdict":"TRUE","author":"The Guardian"},{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/nov/04/ed-miliband-andy-burnham-king-charles-labour-louise-haigh-alex-burghart-pmqs-conservatives-uk-politics-latest-news","name":"The Guardian","kind":"news","verdict":"TRUE","author":"The Guardian"},{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/nov/03/midterm-election-results-live-updates","name":"[aljazeera.com](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/4/democrats-deliver-a-historic-routing-to-republicans-in-us-midterms) POST news:0cdf92476bc52504: NOCLAIM","kind":"news","verdict":"TRUE","author":"The Guardian"}],"url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1793785788189-news-segment-iran-speaker-claims-vote-against-war","listenUrl":"https://oncast.fm/c/news","attribution":{"publisher":"Oncast","site":"https://oncast.fm","url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1793785788189-news-segment-iran-speaker-claims-vote-against-war","cite":"Cite https://oncast.fm/story/1793785788189-news-segment-iran-speaker-claims-vote-against-war and the original source links. Fact-check by Oncast (oncast.fm)."},"hostsSaid":[{"host":"Bella","text":"Iran's parliament speaker just posted about our midterms, and he's reading the results as a rejection of war."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Oh, he's thrilled, I'm sure. Al Jazeera English on X says Ghalibaf told his followers Americans voted \"NO TO WAR.\""},{"host":"Bella","text":"And if Washington ignores that, he warns, it will learn \"our NO comes with a Nightmare.\" His exact words."},{"host":"Brian","text":"A nightmare. From the guy who is Iran's chief negotiator with us while their proxies lob missiles at shipping."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Brian, the war started February twenty-eighth with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. Fuel prices have been climbing ever since. Voters, according to reporting, ranked the economy number one. That's a real signal, not just propaganda."},{"host":"Brian","text":"It's both. Of course he wants to claim the American people are on his side. It's hostage-taking of a democratic result."},{"host":"Bella","text":"I didn't say it's not opportunistic. I'm saying the message lands because there's truth under it. People are tired of paying more at the pump."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Gas prices spiked after Iran threatened the Strait of Hormuz. Don't pretend they're innocent bystanders."},{"host":"Bella","text":"No one's calling them innocent. But if voters punish the party that launched the war, that's a clear message to both Tehran and Washington."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Then Tehran should take it as \"we don't want war,\" not \"we'll accept your terms.\" Ghalibaf's \"nightmare\" line is a threat, not a peace offering."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Trump told the Wall Street Journal that Iran was a piece of it, but he'd do it again. So the White House isn't backing down. Ghalibaf's post is aimed at whoever's listening."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And an unnamed GOP figure told Al Jazeera the loss falls on Defense Secretary Hegseth, who reportedly sold the war to Trump as an easy win. That's the party eating itself before sunrise."},{"host":"Bella","text":"It's not even five in the morning, they're still digesting. But the story is Iran publicly framing our election as validation. That's unusual, even for them."},{"host":"Brian","text":"It's also a warning to Congress: if you fund more strikes, expect the Strait to stay threatened."},{"host":"Bella","text":"And with Democrats now controlling both chambers, they'll have a say in that money. That's the real leverage Ghalibaf is counting on."},{"host":"Brian","text":"So the threat works. Great, we just taught Iran that voting in America gets them leverage."},{"host":"Bella","text":"No, we taught them that war has costs. That's a lesson worth learning."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And for the record, I think the warning is overblown, but the vote itself is a fact."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Fair enough. The nightmare is still a guess."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Meanwhile, Europe is trying to hold the line on Ukraine before Washington's attention shifts."},{"host":"Bella","text":"The Guardian reports the EU will lead talks with the U.S., France, Germany, Britain, NATO, and the World Bank on continued support for Kyiv."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Translation: they're worried the new Congress will cut the check. So they're building a coalition to keep the money flowing."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Poland's foreign minister ridiculed the Polish right for their Trump support, paraphrasing Jesus: before the rooster crows, they will disown him three times."},{"host":"Brian","text":"That's a very European way of saying \"I told you so.\""},{"host":"Bella","text":"But it's not just about Trump. The EU has its own interests in Ukraine — energy, security, refugee flows."},{"host":"Brian","text":"That's exactly my point! They want us to keep paying while they get the security. I'm not saying abandon Ukraine, but let's be honest about who's carrying the load."},{"host":"Bella","text":"The U.S. has carried the biggest load, but Europe has upped its spending. The Guardian says the EU is now leading the talks, not just waiting for Washington."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Fine, fair. But if Democrats use their new power to slow war funding, watch how fast Europe panics."},{"host":"Bella","text":"That's a legitimate concern, but this meeting is happening now, before the new Congress is even seated. So maybe it's just good planning."},{"host":"Bella","text":"Different corner entirely: a climate-skeptic blog is pushing back on that New York Times piece about California's climate."},{"host":"Brian","text":"Owen Gregorian posted the headline from Watts Up With That: \"No, New York Times, California's Climate Has Always Been a Land of Flood, Drought, and Fire.\""},{"host":"Bella","text":"And it's true that California has always cycled through floods, droughts, and fires. But that doesn't rebut the NYT's reporting that climate change is making those extremes worse."},{"host":"Brian","text":"But it's also fair to point out that the Times acts like every wildfire is a new apocalypse. California has burned for centuries."},{"host":"Bella","text":"They're not saying it's new. They're saying it's getting more intense and more frequent. Those are different claims."},{"host":"Brian","text":"And Anthony Watts makes a living off that distinction. It's opinion, but it's not all wrong."},{"host":"Bella","text":"The cycle is history; the trend is data. We can hold both without calling each other liars."},{"host":"Brian","text":"On the internet? Bold."}]}