Iran’s Terror Guard Targets America’s Ballot Box and Wants Voters to Forget the Stakes

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is urging Americans to remove President Trump’s allies from office while Tehran faces pressure over its nuclear ambitions, threats to global energy routes and its long record of hostility toward the United States

By Staff Writer
October 1, 2026

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps wants Americans to focus on higher prices, political division and the strain of conflict and then blame President Donald Trump and the Republicans who support his approach to Tehran

That is the purpose of its extraordinary letter to American voters

The IRGC, a U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, is urging Americans to remove from power the leaders it blames for the direction of the United States

Its central target is President Trump, his policies and the Republican candidates who support them

“Remove from power the evil, deceitful and violent politicians who are responsible for America’s current state”
— Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in its letter to American voters

The demand is not subtle

Iran wants Trump’s allies defeated

It wants Republican candidates who support a tougher approach toward Tehran pushed out of office

The IRGC did not issue a formal list of Democratic candidates it supports

It did not print the words “Vote Democrat” in a campaign style endorsement

But the practical political message is clear

If Americans vote to remove Trump aligned Republicans, the people who benefit are the Democrats and allied candidates running against them

That is the outcome Tehran wants

Americans should ask why

The answer begins with the nuclear threat

The Trump administration has argued that Iran’s nuclear program posed an urgent danger and that Tehran could not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon

The administration said its military operation aimed to destroy Iran’s missile, drone, naval and security infrastructure and cut off Iran’s path toward a nuclear weapon

“The mission is laser focused to obliterate Iran’s missiles and drones and facilities that produce them, annihilate its navy and critical security infrastructure, and sever their pathway to nuclear weapons”
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, quoted in a White House release

A nuclear armed Iran would not be an ordinary foreign policy problem

It would give a regime that has threatened the United States and supported terror networks the ultimate weapon of intimidation

Imagine downtown Chicago on an ordinary workday

Commuters crowd train platforms

Parents bring children to school

Nurses and paramedics begin their shifts

Police officers report for duty

Restaurant workers unlock their doors

Office workers arrive downtown

Then imagine a nuclear detonation

The initial blast could destroy buildings, bridges, roads, rail lines and critical infrastructure across a wide area

The fireball and shock wave could kill and severely injure people far from the center of the explosion

Fires could spread rapidly

Hospitals could be overwhelmed

Power, water, transportation and emergency communications could fail

Radioactive fallout could contaminate communities beyond the immediate blast zone, forcing families to flee or shelter in fear

No responsible leader should casually predict an attack on Chicago, New York or Los Angeles

But no responsible American should dismiss the stakes of keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of a regime that has used violence, threats and coercion to advance its power

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard wants Americans focused on short term anger

It wants voters angry about costs at the gas pump, worried about instability and frustrated by the effects of a conflict Tehran has helped create

But Iran has also used the global energy system as leverage

The Strait of Hormuz is among the world’s most important energy chokepoints

Before the current conflict, it carried roughly one fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments

Disruption in the strait has tightened global energy supplies and placed upward pressure on fuel prices

“The Strait of Hormuz handled about one fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before the war”
— Reuters reporting on the global importance of the Strait of Hormuz

Iran has attempted to use access through the strait as a bargaining tool

Tehran proposed reopening the waterway only if the United States eased military pressure, lifted restrictions and agreed to additional demands

That is not peace

It is economic coercion

It is a hostile regime using a major artery of world commerce as leverage while asking Americans to punish the leaders who refused to surrender to its demands

“You are the ones who empower, with your votes, the government and allow it to do what it does”
— Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in its appeal to American voters

The IRGC wants voters to believe that America’s response created the danger

It wants them to forget Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, threats to shipping, support for armed proxies and decades of hostility toward the United States

The reality is simpler

Iran did not become dangerous because America pushed back

America pushed back because Iran had become dangerous

The Iranian regime held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days after the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979

Iran backed Hezbollah, which carried out the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and killed 241 American service members

The United States has designated the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

“Iran backed Hezbollah terrorists killed 241 U.S. military personnel”
— U.S. government account of the Beirut Marine barracks bombing

For Illinois families, these threats are not distant or abstract

Middle East instability reaches Illinois through the cost of gasoline, groceries, transportation and household necessities

Military families live with the consequences when hostile regimes threaten Americans overseas

Veterans understand the cost when adversaries believe the United States lacks resolve

Businesses and workers feel it when rising fuel costs increase the cost of transporting goods

Gas prices matter

Household budgets matter

Families should not be told otherwise

But Americans should not be manipulated into believing that temporary pain at the pump is a reason to allow Tehran to dictate U.S. national security policy

The question is not whether Americans should care about fuel prices

They should

The question is whether temporary economic hardship is worth preventing a hostile regime from gaining the leverage, protection and destructive capability that a nuclear weapon could provide

That is the question Iran’s Revolutionary Guard wants voters to avoid

It wants Americans to see only the price posted at the gas station

It does not want them to see the danger behind the conflict

It wants Americans to see only partisan anger

It does not want them to see a foreign terrorist organization openly urging the removal of its political opponents in the United States

The midterm election belongs to Americans

Not to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard

Not to a regime that has threatened the United States, attacked American interests and tried to use the world’s energy supply as leverage

And not to any foreign power that believes an American election can be used to advance its own interests

Official sources

• The White House, “President Trump’s Clear and Unchanging Objectives Drive Decisive Success Against Iranian Regime,” including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s statement that the mission was to sever Iran’s pathway to nuclear weapons

• U.S. Department of State, “Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization

• U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, “IRGC Foreign Terrorist Organization Designation,” April 15, 2019

• Congressional Research Service, “The Strait of Hormuz: Security Developments and Impacts on Oil and Natural Gas Markets,” describing the strategic importance of the waterway and the effects of the 2026 disruption

• U.S. Embassy statement, “The Iranian Regime’s Decades of Terrorism Against American Citizens,” documenting Iran backed attacks, including the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing

Secondary sources

• Reuters reporting on the importance of the Strait of Hormuz, which handled roughly one fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supply before the conflict

• CNBC reporting on Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for U.S. concessions and on sharply reduced traffic through the waterway

• CBS News reporting that Iran conditioned a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on U.S. acceptance of Tehran’s stated demands

• Fox News reporting on national gasoline price increases during the Strait of Hormuz disruption