WASHINGTON – The Biden administration admitted Thursday it had asked Saudi Arabia to delay the OPEC+ vote to cut oil production until the cartel’s next meeting – after the midterm elections.

“We presented Saudi Arabia with analysis to show that there was no market basis to cut production targets, and that they could easily wait for the next OPEC meeting to see how things developed,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

The Riyadh-led group of oil producers’ next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 4, according to the OPEC website.

Kirby also alleged that other OPEC member nations “communicated to us privately that they also disagreed with the Saudi decision, but felt coerced to support Saudi’s direction,”

The White House was responding to a Wednesday night statement from the Saudi foreign ministry hitting back at Washington’s accusation that it had taken sides with Russia in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

The ministry insisted the move by OPEC+ to reduce production by 2 million barrels per day beginning next month was made in “a purely economic context.”

Riyadh added that it had made clear to the White House “that all economic analyses indicated that postponing the OPEC+ decision for another month, according to what has been suggested, would have had negative economic consequences.”

The Saudis also insisted that the production reduction – which is expected to raise gas prices in the US – was made through a “consensus among member states.”

“They are not based on the unilateral decision by a single country,” the statement read. “These outcomes are based purely on economic considerations that take into account maintaining balance of supply and demand in the oil markets, as well as aim to limit volatility that does not serve the interests of consumers and producers.”

Riyadh also rebuffed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s Tuesday assertion that the Oct. 5 action by OPEC+ “align[ed] their energy policy with Russia’s war aims and against the American people.”

“[T]hese statements … are not based on facts, and …. are based on portraying the OPEC+ decision out of its purely economic context,” the ministry said. “Saudi Arabia affirms that any attempts to distort the facts about the Kingdom’s position regarding the crisis in Ukraine are unfortunate, and will not change the Kingdom’s principled position.”

But Kirby argued Thursday that Saudi Arabia was the party distorting the truth.

“The Saudi Foreign Ministry can try to spin or deflect, but the facts are simple: The world is rallying behind Ukraine in combating Russian aggression,” he said. “In recent weeks, the Saudis conveyed to us — privately and publicly — their intention to reduce oil production, which they knew would increase Russian revenues and blunt the effectiveness of sanctions.”

He also doubled down on Jean-Pierre’s Tuesday comments, saying the US is “reevaluating our relationship with Saudi Arabia in light of these actions, and will continue to look for signs about where they stand in combating Russian aggression.”

The Biden administration has threatened unspecified “consequences” against Saudi Arabia over OPEC+’s action, which came fewer than three months after the president journeyed to the kingdom and fist-bumped Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in what was widely seen as a bid to convince Riyadh to spur production.

“When the House and Senate gets back, they’re going to have to — there’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done, with Russia,” Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview that aired Tuesday night.

“I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind,” the president added. “But there will be — there will be consequences.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the Saudis shrugged off White House pleas to delay the cut, viewing the demand as a ploy to “avoid bad news” until after the Nov. 8 elections.