Fact check: Does the IRGC letter tell Americans to vote Democrat?

Over the weekend, a familiar claim surged again on X. Nearly four weeks after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps released an open letter to the American people, posts are describing it as a 25-page appeal to "vote Democrat" in the midterms.

NewsCubby read the letter from start to finish. Here is what it says, what it does not say, and what U.S. officials, Iranian officials and analysts have said about it.

Where is the claim spreading?

The claim started almost as soon as the letter came out on Sept. 29. On the morning of Sept. 30, White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on his X account that the letter was a "farcical and laughable" attempt by a desperate IRGC, which he said had run out of options and resorted to telling Americans to "vote Democrat." NewsCubby viewed the post on his account. Cheung went on to say that voters were smarter than that and that supporting Democrats he described as extreme liberals amounts to supporting groups like the IRGC, according to Townhall and Daily Kos, which both reported the full post.

Cheung's post was a reply to one from law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley, who wrote that it was "not a good sign" when the IRGC moves from "Death to America" to "Vote Democratic." Turley's post has been viewed more than 2.2 million times, according to X's public metrics. The Daily Wire ran the headline "Iran Urges Americans To Vote Democrat In Midterms" on Sept. 30. Townhall's headline said the IRGC had "just endorsed Democrats," and the site reported that commentators Laura Ingraham and Guy Benson made similar points on X.

The claim came back this weekend. A NewsCubby count using X's data tools found about 340 original posts on Sunday, Oct. 25 (UTC) that mentioned the IRGC or the Revolutionary Guard together with Democrats, the midterms, the letter or voting. That was the busiest day of the past week, and more than 1,800 such posts appeared over seven days, as of about 5:40 p.m. ET Monday. Not every one of those posts repeats the claim. Some dispute it, and others discuss the letter more generally.

From the other side, Daily Kos, a progressive site, called the claim false and argued that it reflects Republican worries about the midterms.

What does the letter actually say?

The letter is addressed "to the honorable people of the United States of America—the scholars, the students, and the members of the media." NewsCubby read the English version that IRNA, Iran's state news agency, published as a PDF.

The letter does not use the words "Democrat," "Democratic Party," "Republican" or "midterm." The closest it comes is one passing mention of "countries with the most robust democratic governments." It names no candidate, no party and no race. It mentions "elections" twice, and neither time refers to a specific U.S. vote.

The letter does make a direct political appeal to American voters, and Trump is its main target. He is named about two dozen times. The letter says American politicians, Trump among them, often win votes through deception and false promises, and tells readers they can change the makeup of the government. Later it urges them to remove from power the "evil, deceitful, and violent politicians" it holds responsible for the country's current state.

It also tells readers that the American political system is at its weakest, says any politician who thinks a vote can be bought for 5,000 dollars is unfit to lead, and says voters should make sure the members of Congress they elect hold the government accountable for a strike that it says killed Iranian schoolchildren. That claim comes from the IRGC and has not been independently verified by NewsCubby. The letter claims that many Americans who voted for Trump in 2024 now regret it. It also attacks politicians who back Israel's government, without naming a party.

Mixed in with the voting appeal, the letter calls for closing U.S. military bases abroad and ending aid to Israel. It also warns of a "massive economic earthquake" if Washington does not change course, according to The Daily Wire's reading of the same text.

So is the claim true?

What the letter says: it urges Americans to vote out the politicians it blames for the war, starting with Trump. What it does not say: "vote Democrat." The quotation marks in many posts suggest a phrase that does not appear in the document.

Those who make the claim are making an inference: a call to remove Trump-aligned politicians in a midterm year would, in practice, help the opposition party. Cheung's post and The Daily Wire's story both rest on that reading, and The Daily Wire quoted the letter's own lines to support it. Critics, including Daily Kos, say that reading puts words in the IRGC's mouth.

Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, offered a third view to Al Jazeera on Oct. 16. "It's not necessarily that they're trying to get Democrats in power," he said, describing Iran's goal as "overall increasing the costs" of the war for the United States. He added that there is debate inside Iran about what a Democratic win would mean.

What have Iranian officials said?

IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi, who presented the letter in Tehran, framed it as an appeal to voters, not to the administration, TIME reported. He called Trump a habitual liar, according to Al Jazeera, and said Americans who understood Iran's view would pressure their own government. The National reported that Mohebbi did not expect the letter to change the administration's behavior.

Other Iranian officials, speaking without being named, have been more open about the midterms. In a report dated Oct. 14, two senior Iranian officials told Reuters that new tactics against shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz were meant in part to keep oil prices high and to influence the outcome of the U.S. vote, according to the copy of the report published by Al-Monitor. One of them likened the standoff with Trump over oil prices to a game of chess. The Washington Post reported on Oct. 19, citing Iranian officials and diplomats in the region, that Tehran is trying to inflict as much economic pain as it can before the election, expecting Trump to be less sensitive to energy prices afterward.

Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, took a different line on Oct. 22. Riffing on the red and blue pills from "The Matrix," he posted: "Ten pills, all bad. No red, no blue," according to Tasnim, an Iranian news agency.

As of about 5:40 p.m. ET Monday, NewsCubby found no response from Iranian officials to the "vote Democrat" framing itself. On Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei focused on diplomacy instead, saying in an interview with a German broadcaster that Tehran was still passing messages to Washington through intermediaries, The Associated Press reported.

So the record shows that Iranian officials want to raise the political cost of the war for Trump before Nov. 3. It does not show the IRGC telling Americans to vote for a particular party.

How has the U.S. government responded?

The State Department dismissed the letter the day after it was released. A department spokesperson called the letter the Iranian government's latest act of "desperation" and "nothing more than a smokescreen," The National reported. In a statement to Voice of America, the department said the letter was an effort to "divert public attention," IranWire reported.

Trump has said Iran is trying to wait out the election. He said Iran was waiting to see how he does in the midterms without realizing that he is not on the ballot, according to Al Jazeera. Earlier in September, he said Iran was trying to sabotage the election outcome by prolonging the war, TIME reported.

Have U.S. intelligence agencies said Iran favors a party?

Not publicly this year, as far as NewsCubby could find as of about 5:40 p.m. ET Monday. In 2024, U.S. agencies publicly accused Iran of election interference, and intelligence officials assessed that Tehran favored the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, CBS News reported. This year's public record is thinner.

In March, the intelligence community's annual threat assessment left out foreign election threats for the first time in nearly a decade, Defense One and Nextgov/FCW reported. When Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., asked then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard whether there was a foreign threat to the midterms, she said the intelligence community "continues to remain focused" on potential threats. She did not name a country or a party.

In May, the ODNI named officials to coordinate its response to election threats and promised "robust briefings," The Record reported. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., said foreign adversaries were "getting more aggressive." Warner called one of the briefings "pretty unsatisfying."

On Oct. 16, CISA and the FBI warned election officials and campaigns about phishing and "smishing" attacks during the midterms. Their public notice does not name Iran or any other country.

The most recent public description of the threat came from lawmakers, not the agencies. On Oct. 23, CBS News reported that Warner and Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees, said recent intelligence assessments showed foreign influence efforts by Russia, Iran and China but no sign of plans to tamper with voting machines or vote counts. Warner said Iranian actors were focused on disruption in Europe. CBS did not report either lawmaker saying Iran favors a party this year. The two also said they were preparing for the possibility that Trump would allege foreign interference to challenge the results, and that several election-threat reports the law requires the intelligence community to send Congress were overdue. An ODNI spokesperson told CBS that Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, sworn in on Aug. 3, is available to the committees around the clock. CBS said it had asked the White House for comment.

What we know

• The IRGC released a 26-page open letter to Americans on Sept. 29. It attacks Trump by name and urges Americans to vote out the politicians it blames for the war.
• The letter does not mention the Democratic or Republican parties, any candidate or the word "midterm."
• White House communications director Steven Cheung described the letter as telling Americans to "vote Democrat," and the State Department called it a "smokescreen."
• Two senior Iranian officials told Reuters, in a report dated Oct. 14, that Iran's shipping tactics are meant in part to influence the U.S. vote.

What we don't know yet

• Whether U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed which outcome, if any, Iran prefers in 2026. No public assessment was found as of about 5:40 p.m. ET Monday.
• What the overdue election-threat reports to Congress, described by Warner and Himes, say about Iran.
• Whether the letter has had any measurable effect on American voters. No study or official estimate was found.

What happens next

Election Day is Nov. 3, and early voting is under way in many states. The House Intelligence Committee expects another bipartisan election briefing this week, CBS News reported. NewsCubby will update this fact check if the ODNI, FBI or CISA publicly addresses Iranian influence efforts, or if Iranian officials comment on the "vote Democrat" framing.

*Credits: reporting from the IRGC letter (IRNA), Steven Cheung's and Jonathan Turley's posts on X, The National, IranWire, TIME, Al Jazeera, Reuters (via Al-Monitor), The Washington Post, The Associated Press (via ABC News), CBS News, Tasnim, Townhall, Daily Kos, The Daily Wire, The Record, Defense One/Nextgov/FCW and CISA, plus X data. Photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (archive photo). NewsCubby articles are produced with AI assistance and reviewed by humans.*

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