Oil prices extended their sharp selloff on Wednesday as fears that President Donald Trump would launch fresh military strikes on Iran eased a day after Republicans were dealt a sharp defeat in the midterm elections.

Trump has previewed for weeks that he may try to “finish the job” with another round of strikes on Iran. But the scale of the GOP losses has turned even Vice President JD Vance against the idea as voters delivered a sharp repudiation of the war’s impact on prices at the pump.

The U.S. benchmark oil price slipped $6 a barrel on Wednesday after Vance blamed the administration’s war for its losses at the ballot box, bringing the decline to more than $16 since last Thursday. Still, the sharp selloff came too late to help Republicans, who lost their control of the House and Senate Tuesday in an election that focused heavily on cost of living issues.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance posted on X Wednesday morning. He also praised Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy for advocating a “diplomatic resolution to the conflict.”A round of promising negotiations in the Middle East earlier this week initiated the pullback in oil prices, with both Iranian and U.S. officials playing up the prospects of a deal. The situation remains highly volatile, however, as the U.S. conducted limited strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz as recently as Monday. The Treasury Department also announced new sanctions Wednesday on Indian and Turkish entities it said were continuing to support Iran.

“As we have said many times, under Operation Economic Outcast, you are either with us or against us,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “We know where you are, and we will sanction those who continue supporting the Iranian regime, whether by land, sea, or air.”Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump said that high oil prices were probably the “primary reason” for Republicans’ midterm losses, but defended his decision to attack Iran.

“If I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again because long term, it’s the only answer — you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” he said, adding that there is “tremendous oil” flowing out of the Strait of Hormuz.

In an interview with POLITICO late Tuesday, Trump left the door open to further strikes. “We’re going to take a look, and if we see any opportunity to do one thing or another, we’ll do it,” he said.

A renewed military campaign against Iran would come as the supply buffers that have kept a relative lid on oil prices are eroding. The Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that U.S. diesel inventories fell by another 3.6 million barrels last week and are 13 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.

Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at the consultancy Rystad Energy, said in a research note that the Democratic sweep “changes the political cost of continuing the Iran war.”“With both chambers now capable of passing resolutions, holding back war funding and delaying confirmations, the administration faces a shorter political runway and greater institutional pressure to find a Hormuz deal,” Galimberti said.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for fuel price tracking website GasBuddy, wrote on X that oil prices were likely to keep dropping as “pressure mounts and Americans loudly deliver a strong statement to politicians.”“Unless something significant changes, we could be looking at the national average price of gasoline falling below $4/gal in the next week, while diesel could fall below $6 by Thanksgiving,” De Haan added in another post.

To be sure, the Trump administration still has few viable options to get out of the current situation in Iran short of another military campaign, according to Michelle Brouhard, head of policy and geopolitical risk at Kpler.

“A limited strike followed by an exit offers Trump a politically more straightforward off-ramp than accepting Iran's demands or sustaining an expensive stalemate,” Brouhard said in a research note. “It would allow him to claim victory without making significant concessions.”Brett Erickson, managing principal of the consulting firm Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the fresh Treasury sanctions on Wednesday were a signal the administration was not stepping back from the conflict.

“The American people delivered a devastating verdict on this war in the midterms, yet not even 24 hours later, the Trump administration is signaling that its economic warfare against Iran will continue nonetheless,” Erickson said in a text message. “Whether through renewed military strikes or escalating economic warfare, both paths risk provoking devastating Iranian retaliation and plunging us back into all-out war.”