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Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
World

Biden vows 'consequences' for Saudi Arabia after oil production cuts

In this file handout photo released by the Saudi Royal Palace on July 15, 2022, shows US President Joe Biden, left, bumps fists with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Al-Salam Palace in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. (Photo: AFP)

United States President Joe Biden promised "consequences" for Saudi Arabia, after a Riyadh-led coalition of oil-producing nations sided with Russia to slash output.

His announcement came a day after powerful Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the US must immediately freeze all cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales.

Biden, in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, would not discuss what options he was considering.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said a policy review would be conducted but gave no timeline for action or information on who would lead the re-evaluation.

The US will be watching the situation closely "over the coming weeks and months," she said.

Opec+, which includes Russia as well as Saudi Arabia, announced plans for an oil production cut last week after weeks of lobbying against one by US officials.

The US accused Saudi Arabia of kowtowing to Russia, which objects to a Western cap on the price of Russian oil spurred by the Ukraine invasion.

Biden's Opec+ humiliation will be celebrated by both Putin and Republicans

Saudi Arabia appeared eager to de-escalate the growing rift on Tuesday, with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan saying his country and the US shared a "strategic" partnership and that the decision by Opec+ was "purely economic".

"Military cooperation between Riyadh and Washington serves the interests of both countries and has contributed to stability in the region," he said in an interview with Al Arabiya.

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.

US intelligence says the crown prince approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a Saudi insider-turned-critic, who was murdered and dismembered by Saudi agents inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.

The prince, son of King Salman, 86, has denied ordering the killing but acknowledged it took place "under my watch".

Biden said in July he told the prince he thought he was responsible.

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".

"And I think he's going to be willing to start to have those conversations right away. I don't think this is anything that's going to have to wait or should wait, quite frankly, for much longer," Kirby added.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price also said on Tuesday the Biden administration would not overlook Iran, a US adversary and a bitter regional rival of Saudi Arabia, in the review.

Much of US arms sales to Saudi Arabia have been made with Iran's threat in the region in mind.

"There are security challenges, some of which emanate from Iran. Certainly, we won't take our eye off the threat that Iran poses not only to the region, but in some ways beyond," Price said.

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