With the world closely watching a historic defeat for the Republicans in Tuesday’s midterms election, Iran has said the results are an emphatic public rejection of Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East.

Though results are still being counted, the Democrats have been projected as clear winners in the race to control both houses of Congress.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the results showed Americans were opposed to war, suggesting voters had punished the Trump administration over the conflict and its economic consequences.

In a post on X, Mr Ghalibaf wrote: “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.”

Mr Trump himself acknowledged that the war with Iran may have contributed to his party’s electoral losses.

He nonetheless refused to take personal blame for the defeat, claiming that if his name had been on ballots the Republicans would have won “by a landslide”.

International coverage of the results has largely framed it as a message to the president, with Le Monde, the Parisian newspaper, calling the election a “stunning rebuke for Trump” and a “major blow” for a leader who spent “nearly every day of the last month holding rallies to energise his supporters”.

Global markets have fallen slightly on the Democrats’ strong performance, reflecting investor concerns that tighter regulation and local restrictions could slow America’s AI infrastructure boom.

The Financial Times reported that investors were particularly concerned about Democratic victories in Texas and Ohio, major data-centre hubs, where governors have powers over construction permits, zoning and potential building moratoriums.

The Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.7 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.7 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi fell as much as 4 per cent.

Asian technology stocks, including SoftBank, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, also came under pressure. “Asia is not very good at digesting US political risk or news flow,” William Bratton, head of Asia-Pacific cash equity research at BNP Paribas told the outlet, suggesting that the market has “overreacted”.