Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps published an open letter to the American people on Tuesday, urging voters to reject President Donald Trump's policies ahead of the November midterm elections, oppose US support for Israel and accept an offer of "peaceful coexistence."
The roughly 25-page letter, addressed to "the honorable people of the United States of America" and specifically to scholars, students and journalists, was released alongside a press conference in Tehran by IRGC spokesman Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi.
In the letter, the IRGC tells Americans to "wake up" and "wrest control back from corrupt politicians," arguing that "now is the time, as the American political system is at its weakest." It accuses the Trump administration of misleading Americans about the war, Iran's nuclear program and who controls the Strait of Hormuz.
Mohebbi told reporters he did not expect the letter to change the administration's behavior some five weeks before the election, but said Americans should "revise their decision" about their leaders. "The American people are not knowledgeable about many developments," he said. He also called Trump an "inveterate liar."
The letter portrays Iran as the victor in its confrontation with the United States and Israel, attributing that to the "Quran's superior doctrine and worldview," and describes the United States as a power in decline. It claims the US and Israel "expended thousands of bombs and missiles, striking government and residential buildings, dozens of less advanced and lower-tier weapons-manufacturing facilities, and a number of decommissioned military installations."
The document also recasts the regime's "Death to America" slogan as aimed at the US political establishment rather than the American people. According to Iran's Mehr news agency, it declares that "occupiers of Palestine" will have to leave and return to their countries, and that Americans can live peacefully with Iran if they separate themselves from Israel.
Mohebbi also rejected US claims that the Strait of Hormuz has reopened. "The fact that the Americans might manage, at great expense, considerable trouble and high risk to sneak a small vessel through the Strait of Hormuz under cover of darkness to export, say, 100 or 200 barrels of oil does not mean the Strait is open," he said.
The IRGC, which the United States designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2019, has previously been linked to covert influence campaigns targeting Americans, including disinformation operations and fake websites. The open letter marks an unusually direct appeal to US voters.
