Iran’s Rezaei: ‘Start A War, And You’ll Face A Devastating Response’
Iran’s top security official says the US lost both the war and the election and asks who in Washington can receive Tehran’s warning, as Trump weighs changes at the Pentagon
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Washington it lost both the war and the election and warned that any new war would bring “a devastating response,” in a post on X on late Saturday.
Rezaei said Vice President JD Vance has conceded, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is heading for the exit, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is about to be fired, and the commander of US Central Command is now a podcaster. He then asked who in Washington Tehran needs to deliver its message to. “Start a war, and you’ll face a devastating response,” he wrote.
You lost the war and the election.Vance has conceded,Rubio is heading for the exit,Hegseth is about to be fired,and the CENTCOM commander is now a podcaster! So٫Who exactly in Washington do we need to get this message across to? Start a war,and you’ll face a devastating response.
— محسن رضایی (@ir_rezaee) November 7, 2026
Several of the claims have a basis in US reporting, but not as Rezaei states them.
Vance said on Wednesday that “the reason we lost is the war,” blaming the Iran conflict for Republican losses in the midterms on Tuesday, according to CBS News, and Trump said the war was part of the defeat, according to The Wall Street Journal.
CBS reported on Wednesday that Trump asked advisers whether to fire Hegseth, and that some officials expect blame could fall on Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, or Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Trump said Hegseth is doing a “very good job,” and no decision has been confirmed. The Independent reported, citing unnamed Republican sources, that Rubio may leave the administration to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2028, with no timetable and no confirmation from Rubio. CENTCOM launched a YouTube podcast, “Inside CENTCOM,” on Thursday, with Cooper as the first guest, according to the Daily Beast.
The post follows other remarks by Rezaei after the election. He said earlier this week that Iran handed Trump a strategic defeat on the battlefield and in Hormuz and a political defeat in Washington, according to Anadolu. CBS reported that Vance reached out to Rezaei last week about discussing conditions for a ceasefire and negotiations, and a CBS report said Trump blessed a letter from Vance to Rezaei in late October. Washington and Tehran are still trading messages through Qatar, and Trump has said he is not looking to kill lots of people while declining to rule out strikes. Rezaei said last month that Iran had strengthened its position and warned of a response without geographic limits to any attack.