TEHRAN – On Sept. 29, 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) published a 25-26 page open letter addressed to “the honorable people of the United States of America — the scholars, the students, and the members of the media.”
IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi presented it at a press conference in Tehran.
The letter comes seven months into the direct U.S.-Israel war against Iran that began Feb. 28, 2026, and five weeks before the U.S. midterm elections in November.
Mohebbi was explicit about the timing and audience: he did not expect it to change the Trump administration’s behavior, but hoped American voters would hear it. Reuters, TIME and Al-Jazeera all summarized the pitch as: oppose Trump’s policies, “wrest control back from corrupt politicians,” and vote for change.
The U.S. State Department on Sept. 30 dismissed it as a “smokescreen” and “latest act of desperation.”
What does the letter say?
Opening with Qur’an 13:11 — “God does not alter the affairs of a people until they alter their own affairs” — and salutations to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, the letter poses seven questions it says are hidden from Americans, then answers them:
The war and who won: Iran says the U.S. started the war by striking an elementary school in Minab, killing 168 schoolchildren and teachers, and simultaneously striking the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killing him, several family members including his 14-month-old granddaughter, and starting a war that has since killed more than 3,600 Iranians, mostly civilians including 400 children, and hit 8 universities, 3 hospitals and 8 schools.
Tehran declares a “decisive victory” and “crushing defeat” for the U.S. and Israel. Its logic: the U.S. listed shifting goals — regime change, partition, unconditional surrender, seizing Kharg Island, ground invasion, destroying industry, energy, civilization, nuclear, missiles, controlling Hormuz and annexing it with a 20% toll, controlling airspace, cutting support for resistance groups — and achieved none, except damaging some nuclear-related buildings and limited air-defense sites.
Iran in turn says it neutralized 200+ strategic drones, 12 tanker/transport aircraft, 30 fighter jets, at least one AWACS, dozens of helicopters and radars, destroyed 350+ primary facilities and reduced 18 U.S. bases in the region to near-zero operational capability.
“Death to America”: The letter says it is not hatred of the American people but “a prayer for the eradication of the diabolical ruling elite whose seat of power is the White House” — “Death to the crimes perpetrated by the American elite.”
Is the IRGC terrorist? No, it argues. It presents itself as a people’s force that thwarted regime change and partition, reinvigorated national and religious unity — especially among youth after Minab — and defended the concept of “Velayat-e Faqih”, now continued under new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, introduced as a jurist, war veteran and longtime adviser to his father.
73 years of hostility: The war, it says, is only the latest chapter since the 1953 CIA-backed coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, SAVAK repression, support for Saddam in the 1980s, sanctions, and now direct war.
U.S. decline and economy: The U.S., with a military budget 100 times Iran’s, still failed, proving hegemonic decline. It warns of an imminent “massive economic earthquake” and collapse, accusing President Donald Trump of lying that “the economy is booming.”
It closes with an offer: “We can live together in peaceful coexistence” if Americans “remove from power the evil, deceitful, and violent politicians,” stop wars, end aid to Israel and “entrust your affairs to the wise, not the wily.” It urges Americans to visit Iran, even Hormuz, to see for themselves.
Why write to the people, not the government?
The letter argues the first casualty of U.S. wars is truth, and taxpayers bear the cost. Therefore Americans “deserve to know the truth” to protect themselves from “unjust aggression” and coming collapse. It says: “You are the ones who empower, with your votes, the government.”
In short: bypass Washington, speak over its head to voters before the midterms.
Does this have precedent?
Yes from Iran, no from the IRGC.
Iranian leaders have written directly to Americans three times before:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2006 letter “To the American People” criticizing the Bush administration, Iraq war and Israel, and calling for dialogue.
Late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s two letters “To the Youth in Europe and North America” in Jan. 2015 after the Charlie Hebdo attack and Nov. 2015 after Paris attacks, urging youth to study Islam from its sources rather than media, and not to judge Islam by terrorism.
Martyr Ayatollah Khamenei’s May 2024 letter to U.S. university protesters against the Gaza war, praising their “awakened conscience” as standing “on the right side of history” and part of the Resistance Front.
What is new is the author: this is the first lengthy public letter from the IRGC as a military institution to the American public, and the first to explicitly link battlefield facts, nuclear and Hormuz issues, and a direct electoral appeal to change the administration.
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