Democrats won elections to both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the US midterm elections, controlling a majority of seats in Congress for the remainder of Donald Trump's presidency.
This broad change in the political landscape represents a major setback for the president. He acknowledged that the war in Iran and the high cost of living contributed to the defeat of many of his Republican Party's candidates. US Vice President J.D. Vance said: "The reason we lost is because of the war."
Below, BBC journalists explain what these findings mean for the rest of the world, from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East to trade relations with China.
Iran
Ghoncheh Habibizadeh, BBC News Persian's chief correspondent in London
Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, says those who believe changes in US policy will lead to a shift in "American hostility toward Iran" are "much mistaken."
Khamenei threatened that if the United States launched a new strike on Iran, the response “will expand to a greater extent.”
The Supreme Leader, who succeeded his father Ali Khamenei after he was killed in US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has not appeared in public for months.
These statements came out in a six-page written letter published on Wednesday, on the occasion of the anniversary of the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran in 1979.
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Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent
Theoretically, and in another time, this electoral setback for the “Trump project” could have been viewed as a setback for the Gulf states.
The president and his family have close personal and commercial relations with many Gulf countries.
In Dubai, there is the Trump International Golf Course (for practicing golf), and Qatar gifted him a plane worth 400 million US dollars, and the combined investments of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia amount to billions of dollars in the “Affinity Capital” company affiliated with Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Trump chose Riyadh as his first foreign destination during his first presidential term in 2017.
The Saudis, in particular, had a tense relationship with his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. Do you remember that awkward moment they exchanged a “fist” salute with the Saudi Crown Prince in 2022?
Gulf leaders also had strong reservations about President Barack Obama after his failure to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for using poison gas.
But this year's Iran war changed the way people think about Trump.
As one commentator put it: “President Trump has set the Gulf on fire” (on February 28), and there remains fear that he may reignite that war, prompting Iran to respond by unleashing devastation on their critical national infrastructure.
Where is Iran regarding the US election results?
Rebecca Bader, BBC correspondent in Washington, DC
US Vice President J.D. Vance said that the war with Iran is the reason behind the crushing electoral defeat of the Republicans.
The war led to a sharp increase in costs to Americans, not least the price of fuel (gasoline).
During his campaign to win a second term in 2024, Trump promised to reduce gasoline prices to less than $2 per gallon. The average price in October was $4.31 per gallon. He also promised that there would be no new wars if he returned to the White House.
But the day before the midterm elections, the United States launched new strikes on an Iranian island, and Trump told reporters that he had no regrets about starting the war.
In response to the results of the midterm elections, Iran's chief negotiator in the talks with the United States - Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf - said that the Americans "said no to war."
But Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement that he does not expect American policy to change after these results.
Today, in an interview with CBC News, the American news partner of the BBC, Trump said that the conflict will end “when I say it is over.”
China
Laura Baker, China correspondent
The relationship between Beijing and Washington is a great power rivalry of this century, and President Xi Jinping may feel he has the upper hand as he prepares to welcome Donald Trump to China later this month.
Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods entering the United States in an attempt to protect American manufacturers from cheap Chinese products.
But his plan backfired when Xi responded with massive tariffs of his own.
This led to higher prices for many goods for Americans, including some small family luxuries such as toys and clothing.
China also stopped buying American agricultural products, which hurt farmers in states that support Trump.
That trade war ended with a truce scheduled to expire at the end of January, and China may feel that Trump will try to heal his wounds after the midterm elections and will look for a deal.
Xi will see this as an opportunity to make it a better deal for China.
Russia
Steve Rosenberg, BBC Russia editor
“We sincerely hope that Donald Trump will continue his efforts for peace,” Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, told Russian media.
“There are ideas,” Peskov added, “and soon there will be another round of tripartite negotiations.” He is referring here to the tripartite talks scheduled to be held in Abu Dhabi next week between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.
He continued: “We have seen the successful peaceful humanitarian efforts carried out by Melania Trump,” referring to the recent humanitarian operation in Oleshki, which is under Russian occupation.
“We hope this all continues,” he said.
If peace efforts go nowhere, Moscow will likely hold Ukraine and Europe responsible as it has done before.
She may now also blame the Democrats and the midterm elections. But it likely will not blame Donald Trump, because the Kremlin has invested a lot in its relationship with Trump, and it is clear that Moscow still hopes to develop economic cooperation with the Trump administration.
Global media
BBC Monitoring Unit
But pro-war Russian voices warned that Democratic control of Congress could limit Trump's ability to implement any future agreements with the Kremlin or ease sanctions on Russia.
At the same time, Iranian leadership and state-linked media portrayed Democratic gains as a popular rebuke of Trump's warmongering policy.
Iranian media highlighted what it described as the escalating political cost of the military confrontation with Tehran.
