The US President is questioning the decades-long alliance with the Kingdom of the Gulf.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
Washington US President Joe Biden announces “consequences” for relations with Saudi Arabia after the OPEC+ production cut. In an interview broadcast on CNN on Tuesday, he declined to elaborate on the options he is considering. Biden will work with Congress “to consider what that relationship should look like going forward,” White House spokesman John Kirby previously said.
The President’s Office announced a review but did not provide a timetable or information about who would lead the reassessment. The United States will be closely monitoring the situation “over the coming weeks and months,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
The day before, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez called on the US government to freeze all aspects of cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including all arms sales. Much of the US arms sales to Saudi Arabia have been made in light of the Iranian threat in the region.
“There are security challenges, some of which come from Iran. Certainly we will not lose sight of the threat that Iran poses not only to the region but in some ways beyond,” said Ned Price, spokesman for the US State Department.
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The oil cartel Opec+, led by Saudi Arabia, had agreed to cut oil production despite concerns about a global recession triggered by high energy prices. The US wants to lower oil prices, among other things, to deprive Russia of oil revenues because of the war against Ukraine.
Western countries accuse Russia of using energy as a weapon and creating an energy crisis in Europe. Relations between the UK and the US government of Biden are considered tense.
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