Iran's Revolutionary Guard Wrote to American Voters. Here's What It Said and What Outside Counts Show.

With Election Day on Nov. 3, a September letter from a group the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization urges Americans to change their leaders, as President Trump weighs whether to resume strikes on Iran.

By Richthrax · Oct. 25, 2026

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps released an open letter to the American people on Sept. 29 that urges voters to reject President Donald Trump's war policies, according to Newsweek and The Times of Israel. The midterm elections are Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Newsweek and The Times of Israel described the letter as 25 pages; The National described it as 26. Iran's state-affiliated Mehr News Agency published the text. It is addressed "To the honorable people of the United States of America" and names scholars, students and members of the media.

The IRGC is the military force that answers to Iran's supreme leader. The U.S. designated it a foreign terrorist organization in 2019, Newsweek reported.

What the letter says

The letter declares victory over Washington, Newsweek reported. It says the U.S. and Israel failed to achieve their war aims, including "regime change and partition of Iran." It says Trump named "thirteen different, contradictory targets" for the war, which the U.S. and Israel began Feb. 28.

It calls Trump "an inveterate liar" and "an insanely avaricious man." It says Iranians and Americans "have been wronged by the same cohort of elite actors," and that the chant "Death to America" is aimed at "the diabolical ruling elite whose seat of power is the White House," not the American public.

The letter cites the 1953 coup in Iran that involved the CIA, U.S. and European support for Iraq's chemical weapons, and the 1988 downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by a U.S. warship, which killed 290 people.

It asks Americans to "shut down the 800 costly and useless American bases" and to press their government to cut ties with Israel. It tells readers that "the congresspeople you elect will hold the government accountable," to "entrust your affairs to the wise, not the wily," and says, "We can live together in peaceful coexistence."

IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said at the release that he did not expect the letter to change the administration's behavior, but that Americans should "revise their decision" about their leaders, The Times of Israel reported.

How the letter's claims compare with outside counts

• The Minab school. The letter says the war's first strikes killed "168 innocent schoolchildren along with their teachers" at an elementary school in Minab, and elsewhere refers to "the massacre of 400 innocent Iranian schoolchildren." A U.N. fact-finding mission said in September that 157 people were killed, including 123 children, and found "reasonable grounds" to believe U.S. forces were responsible and committed a war crime, Stars and Stripes reported. In May, Adm. Brad Cooper said preliminary findings of a Pentagon investigation "correlated" the school with a U.S. strike; the Pentagon has not released findings of its formal investigation, according to Stars and Stripes.
• The January protests. The letter blames the CIA and Israel's Mossad for unrest in early 2026 and puts the death toll at "more than 2,300." Iran's government has given a figure of 3,038 dead, and the U.N. mission said deaths "significantly exceeded" that number and that parts of the crackdown amounted to crimes against humanity, according to Stars and Stripes. Foreign human rights monitors count more than 30,000 deaths, and Trump has cited 60,000 to 65,000, Newsweek reported.
• The IRGC's record. The letter says "there is not a single verifiable instance" of the Guards committing violence against civilians, and calls the IRGC "the world's most effective organization in combating terrorism."
• Iran's war dead. The letter says "more than 3600 Iranians" have been killed, including 400 children, and that eight universities, three hospitals and eight schools have been bombed. The Despoiler could not independently confirm those figures.

How Washington answered

A State Department spokesman called the letter "nothing more than a smokescreen" and "the Iranian regime's latest act of desperation," The National reported Sept. 30.

Alan Eyre, a former State Department official now at the Middle East Institute, told Newsweek he doubted the letter would change Trump's thinking, but said some of its criticisms of U.S. politics may resonate with American readers.

What has happened since

At a Florida rally Oct. 23, he said the U.S. military "may do another Epic Fury," the name of the opening bombing campaign, Al Jazeera reported. On Oct. 25 he said, "Do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off?" according to CBS News.

Trump has said any strikes would wait until after the Nov. 3 midterms, and he has accused Iran of faking attacks on ships to raise oil prices before the vote, CBS News reported.

Mohebbi called U.S. threats "largely for media consumption" and said Iran would answer any strike with greater force, according to CBS News. The IRGC said seven tankers were attacked or struck mines overnight into Oct. 23, and the price of Brent crude rose to about $117 a barrel, its highest since April, Al Jazeera reported Oct. 24.

The voters it is aimed at

A Pew Research Center survey of 5,062 adults taken Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 found 65% disapproved of Trump's handling of U.S. military action against Iran and 33% approved. A polling average published by Silver Bulletin on Oct. 23 showed 36% support for the war and 55% opposition.

The letter is not Iran's first direct appeal. President Masoud Pezeshkian published an open letter to Americans on April 1, Military.com reported.