Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States since April 2019, published a roughly 26-page open letter this week telling Americans directly to act against their own leadership. "Americans need to wake up and wrest control back from corrupt politicians," the letter states. It arrives from a government fighting an active war with the United States, five weeks before the midterm elections, and its own record on basic rights, particularly for women, is among the most restrictive in the world.
What the letter demands
Published through the IRGC's English-language release and carried by Iran's state Mehr News Agency, the letter is addressed to "the honorable people of the United States of America," including scholars, students, and media, and argues the Trump administration "must be changed," that "now is the time, as the American political system is at its weakest." It goes further than a call to vote differently. The letter redefines the phrase "Death to America" itself: "The phrase 'Death to America' does not express ill will toward the American people. It is a prayer for the eradication of the diabolical ruling elite whose seat of power is the White House." It separately references a "Zionist-aligned elite" it accuses U.S. leadership of serving.
The letter claims Iran achieved "a decisive victory" in the war with the United States and Israel that began Feb. 28, 2026, asserting, in its own words, more than 3,600 Iranian deaths, including 400 children, and the destruction of eight universities, three hospitals, and eight schools. Those are the letter's figures, not an independently verified count; outside estimates of the war's toll have varied. The letter also argues that after the war failed to achieve its stated goals, U.S. officials "started blurting out a changing list of objectives," and separately claims Iran's nuclear program is peaceful, citing a religious decree from its former leader against nuclear weapons. IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi called Trump an "inveterate liar" in comments tied to the letter's release, which arrived one day after the seven-month mark of the war.
How Washington responded
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed the letter as "a farcical and laughable attempt" by a desperate regime, characterizing its message as telling Americans to "vote Democrat," a characterization worth noting precisely: the letter never names a party. Given how explicitly the letter calls for Americans to remove their own leadership, Cheung's framing reads less like an overreach and more like a partisan gloss on a demand that was already direct. The State Department called the letter a "smokescreen", with a spokesman saying "the IRGC's desperate effort to lie to the American people does not change the hard facts about the Iranian regime's record of maliciousness, both in Iran and abroad." The department also announced a reward of up to $15 million through its Rewards for Justice program for information disrupting the financial networks of Iran's Aerospace Force, naming three officials: Abdullah Mehrabi, Jafar Abadi, and Ali Asghar Norouzi, describing them as responsible for the force's missile and drone development work.