WASHINGTON: After OPEC+ announced last week that it would reduce oil production in defiance of US objections, President Joe Biden promised on Tuesday that “there will be consequences” for US ties with Saudi Arabia.
He made his remark the day after influential Democratic Senator and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez demanded that the US immediately halt all engagement with Saudi Arabia, including military sales.
In an interview , Biden declined to say which choices he was contemplating.I won’t discuss what I’d be considering or what’s on my mind. Nevertheless, there will be repercussions; “said he.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, announced that a policy review will be carried out but provided no timetable for action or details on who would be in charge of the examination.
Following weeks of US government pressure against one, OPEC+ revealed plans for a reduction in oil production last week. Saudi Arabia has been accused by the United States of appeasing Russia, which opposes a restriction on the price of Russian oil imposed by the West as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.
US officials had been subtly attempting to convince its largest Arab ally to reject the notion of a production decrease, but Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia was unmoved.
According to a source with knowledge of the matter, Bin Salman and Biden argued during Biden’s July visit to Jeddah over the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Biden will work with Congress “to think through what that partnership ought to look like going ahead,” according to John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokeswoman.Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, added on Tuesday that the Biden administration would not ignore Iran, a US enemy and Saudi Arabia’s fiercest regional rival.
