Trump's loss limits powers at home, but it will likely be different abroad

In the weeks leading up to the midterms the deployment of US forces and Trump's own, often belligerent, statements ramped up talk that the US was getting ready to go back to war with Iran.

On the eve of the elections, the US carried out a limited bombing raid on an Iranian island in the Gulf.

Before he was hospitalised with a stroke, the US Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, went to a classified briefing about potential military options for renewed war with Iran.

Without going into detail, he condemned the plans as "insane", warning that they would trigger a "devastating escalation".