Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has apparently decided that its next battlefield is the American ballot box.
In an extraordinary 25-page open letter, the Iranian military organization directly appealed to American voters ahead of the November midterm elections, attacking President Donald Trump, condemning his Iran policy and urging Americans to “take back control” of their government.
The message is difficult to miss: Tehran wants Americans to turn against the president while the United States and Iran remain locked in a seven-month confrontation.
“You are the ones who empower, with your votes, the government and allow it to do what it does,” the IRGC wrote. “Although American politicians often win your votes through deception and false promises, as Trump did, you can change the makeup of the government.”
Then came the command:
“Take back control.”
That is quite a political message coming from an organization created by Iran’s Islamic Revolution — one that is deeply intertwined with the country’s military and security apparatus.
The letter attempts to portray the Iranian regime as the victim and Trump as the aggressor who has supposedly failed to accomplish his objectives. It claims the United States and Israel have failed to achieve their stated goals and presents Iran’s continued resistance as evidence that Washington's campaign has gone off course.
The IRGC also took direct aim at Trump’s credibility, accusing him of misleading Americans about the war and the economy.
“The US economy is on the precipice of collapse,” the letter declares, predicting that “the dam will break” and the economy will implode.
That prediction comes from a government whose own currency has been hammered by economic pressure. On September 29, Iran’s rial fell beyond 2.5 million to the U.S. dollar on the open market, according to Iran International.
And there it is.
Tehran wants Americans to believe Washington is collapsing while Iran itself is struggling under sanctions, war and a currency crisis.
The IRGC's message goes well beyond criticism of Trump's foreign policy. It explicitly encourages Americans to use their political power against their own government, calling on them to remove leaders it describes as “evil, deceitful, and violent.”
It also urges Americans to pressure Washington to distance itself from Israel, end what the IRGC describes as endless wars, close American military bases overseas and redirect military spending toward domestic priorities.
The letter concludes with another appeal to Americans:
“We can live together in peaceful coexistence.”
But the messenger matters.
The IRGC is not an ordinary political organization. It is Iran's powerful military force, operating alongside but separately from the country's conventional armed forces. Its Quds Force has supported armed groups throughout the Middle East, while the IRGC has played a central role in Iran's regional military strategy. The United States designated the organization as a foreign terrorist organization in 2019.
Yet now that same organization is lecturing American voters about democracy, political accountability and responsible government.
That part should not be complicated.
The letter even tries to redefine one of Iran's most notorious political slogans. Regarding “Death to America,” the IRGC says the phrase is directed at America's ruling elite rather than ordinary Americans.
The message is carefully constructed to separate the Iranian government from the American people while simultaneously urging those Americans to revolt politically against their own leadership.
That is not merely foreign-policy messaging. It is an attempt to enter the American political conversation at an extraordinarily sensitive moment.
The timing is no accident.
The United States is approaching the 2026 midterm elections, while the war with Iran continues and Washington maintains economic pressure on Tehran. The Trump administration announced another round of sanctions targeting individuals and entities accused of supporting Iran's military supply network.
Iran, meanwhile, is trying to turn the costs of the conflict into a political weapon against Trump.
The IRGC argues that Americans should see the war through Tehran's eyes. Washington sees the pressure campaign as an effort to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and constrain threats posed by the regime and its military network. Tehran portrays the same campaign as aggression against Iranian sovereignty.
And now Iran wants American voters to settle the argument at home.
There is an obvious irony in all of this.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is telling Americans to distrust their elected government while operating inside a political system where the supreme leader is not elected by voters and candidates for major offices are subject to vetting by the Guardian Council. Iran's official turnout in its 2024 presidential election was roughly 40%.
Americans can make their own political judgments. They do not need Tehran making them.
Whatever one thinks about Trump's Iran strategy, the spectacle of an Iranian military organization openly campaigning against an American president should put the nature of this conflict in stark perspective.
The IRGC says Americans need to “take back control.”
The American people already possess that power — through their Constitution, their elections and their own judgment.
They don't need an Iranian general to tell them how to use it.
