Iran's security chief Rezaei warns the US: 'Start a war, and you'll face a devastating response'
Major General Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, warned the United States in a post on X on Saturday 7 November 2026: 'Start a war, and you'll face a devastating response.' In the same post he claimed the US had lost the war and the election, that Vice President Vance 'has conceded', that Secretary of State Rubio is 'heading for the exit' and that Defense Secretary Hegseth is 'about to be fired' — none of which had been confirmed. Democrats won control of both houses of Congress in the 3 November midterms. No US response to the post had been published.
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Key points
- Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei warned on X: 'Start a war, and you'll face a devastating response.'
- His claims that Vance conceded and that Rubio and Hegseth are on their way out are his assertions only — none confirmed.
- Democrats won both houses of Congress in the 3 November midterms, the election result his post refers to.
- No US response to the post had been published.
What happened
Rezaei, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, has headed Iran's Supreme National Security Council since August 2026. His post lands in a week of renewed US–Iran exchanges — limited US strikes on Iran, a disabled blockade-running vessel in the Gulf of Oman, and the Revolutionary Guards lifting their self-imposed missile-range limit — and days after the midterms stripped President Trump's party of Congress.
A separate Iranian statement the same morning, from an unnamed senior security official, promised an 'immediate, unlimited and devastating response' to any strike. That was a different speaker and different words, and is not part of this post.
Claim by claim
Why this label: The post is Rezaei's own words, quoted identically by Anadolu Agency and Press TV in their reports of it; that he said it is verified by the post itself. What the post claims is assessed separately below.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Each of the four claims rests on Rezaei's post alone; none is corroborated in the reporting read, and 'conceded' is not explained in the post. His 'you lost the war' line is his assertion about the February–April war's outcome, which remains disputed, not a settled finding.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
Why this label: The midterm outcome is the called result reported by AP and USA Today's election coverage, and is carried on this site's own checked midterms story.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- Rezaei made the warning in his own public post, in the words quoted above.
- Democrats won control of both houses of Congress in the 3 November midterms.
What we don't know yet
- Whether Vance, Rubio or Hegseth are leaving their posts — Rezaei's claims are unconfirmed.
- Any US response to the post — none had been published when this story went out.
- What a 'devastating response' would consist of — the post does not say.
Why it matters
The warning itself is the news: Iran's top security official is publicly setting the price of a new US attack while Washington's politics turn over. Whether his claims about the administration's ranks hold up matters less than the message Tehran wants heard — that it considers the moment one of American weakness, and is saying so before any strike, not after.
Update history
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Published in Checking state — checking continues, and claims are labelled as reporting develops. Basis: Rezaei's own post on X, quoted by Anadolu Agency and Press TV.