Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps released an open letter Tuesday addressed to "the honorable people of the United States of America," urging them to "wake up" and remove the Trump administration through the ballot box. The letter lands five weeks before US midterm elections on November 3 and one day after the US-Israel war against Iran marked its seventh month. The timing is not subtle. The letter's core argument is that Washington has lied to Americans about the war's progress, Iran's nuclear programme, and control of the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC claims Iran won the conflict, asserting that despite "thousands of bombs and missiles" the US and Israel struck only "several buildings tied to Iran's nuclear industry and a limited number of air-defense sites" while failing to meet declared objectives. IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi reinforced this at a press conference, calling Trump an "inveterate liar" and claiming American citizens are "unaware" of the administration's harms. The influence strategy is layered. The letter carefully distinguishes the American people from their government, frames both nations as "victims" of corrupt politicians, and offers a revisionist gloss on the "Death to America" slogan — recasting it as targeting only "the diabolical ruling elite whose seat of power is the White House." This is not new: since the war began February 28, Iran-linked networks have used AI-generated Lego-themed videos, memes, and short-form English-language content to push Tehran's messaging. On substance, the Hormuz dispute remains the sharpest economic lever. Iran has restricted strait traffic since the war began, and the US imposed a blockade in response. Mohebbi dismissed US claims of restored access, saying sneaking "a small vessel through the Strait of Hormuz under cover of darkness" does not equal open shipping. But the numbers tell a more complex story: oil exports through the strait averaged 13.2 million barrels per day over the past week, about 77 percent of pre-war levels, per trade analytics firm Kpler. Diplomacy is flickering. Both US and Iranian officials spoke separately with mediators Monday. Tehran said diplomacy is the only path. But Trump, speaking at the UN General Assembly last week, openly weighed whether to "annihilate" Iran or pursue a deal that might come "right after the election." The framing — annihilation or grand bargain — leaves zero middle ground and ties Iran's fate explicitly to American domestic politics. The IRGC letter is, structurally, an information operation targeting a democratic pressure point: midterm elections that will determine whether Trump faces legislative constraints in his final two years. Whether American voters notice or care is another question entirely. The letter's intended audience may not be American voters at all, but domestic Iranian audiences and regional allies who benefit from the narrative that Tehran is fighting back on every front — military, diplomatic, and informational. The extractive logic runs in both directions. The Trump administration extracts political capital from the war narrative at the cost of global energy stability and civilian harm. The IRGC extracts legitimacy from positioning itself as a defender of both Iranian and American publics, at the cost of honest diplomacy. The actual publics — American and Iranian — bear the costs of both performances.
