President Joe Biden said “there will be consequences” for US relations with Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ announced it would cut oil production over US objections.
Biden’s announcement came a day after Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, demanded that the United States must freeze cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales.
Biden, however, did not discuss what options he was considering regarding Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary said a policy review would be conducted but she gave no timeline for action or information on who would lead the re-evaluation. The United States will be watching the situation closely “over the coming weeks and months,” she said.
Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson also said the Biden administration would not overlook Iran, a US adversary and a bitter regional rival of Saudi Arabia, in the review.
Last week OPEC+ announced plans for an oil production cut after weeks of lobbying against the US officials. The United States accused Saudi Arabia of kowtowing to Russia, which objects to a Western cap on the price of Russian oil spurred by the Ukraine invasion.
US officials had been quietly trying to persuade its biggest Arab partner to nix the idea of a production cut, but Saudi Arabia’s de factor ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was not swayed.
Bin Salman and Biden had clashed during Biden’s visit to Jeddah in July over the death in 2018 of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a source familiar with the situation.
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, said Biden would work with Congress “to think through what that relationship ought to look like going forward.”
