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President Joe Biden vowed that the United States will “take action” to respond to Saudi Arabia after the country voted in favor of oil production.
Asked about members of Congress calling for an end to U. S. arms sales to the country, Biden said “we will respond to Saudi Arabia and consult when [lawmakers] return. We will take action. “
The president’s comments come a day after a White House official said management was reconsidering U. S. relations with Saudi Arabia following OPEC’s decision.
“I think the president has been very transparent that this is a date that we want to keep reevaluating, that we want to be ready to review and, in light of OPEC’s decision, I think that’s where it is,” Kirby said. a spokesperson for the National Security Council told CNN.
OPEC’s Saudi-led energy alliance made a resolution last week to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day, most likely to increase already high fuel costs in the U. S. In the U. S. and elsewhere. The resolution was made with the aim of increasing oil costs, and may only help mitigate the impact on Russia of an approaching European oil ban.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut output was widely noted as a betrayal of the United States after Biden abandoned his crusade pledge to make the country a “pariah” over its human rights record and the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. he went there in July and suggested to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that he pump more oil to ease gasoline costs at home.
In an interview Tuesday, the president promised there would be “consequences” for Saudi Arabia’s moves, but did not specify what moves he considers.
“There will be consequences for what they did with Russia,” Biden said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday. “I’m not going to go into what I would do and what I have in mind. But there will be. . . impact.
The president would act “when the House and Senate return” from recess.
Biden last week called OPEC’s resolution a “disappointment” and his management is looking for opportunities to keep U. S. fuel costs low. ; and coming over Venezuela’s oil producer.
Kirby said Biden is willing to work with Congress “while we think about the right appointments with Saudi Arabia that wants to move forward. “The National Security Council spokesman added that he believed the president was in a position to start those talks “immediately. “”
Kirby’s comments come a day after Sen. Bob Menendez, D. J. , chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on the U. S. to “immediately freeze all facets of our cooperation with Saudi Arabia, adding any arms sales and security. “cooperation beyond what is surely mandatory to protect the body of workers and interests of the United States. U. S.
“There’s just no room to play on either side of this clash [in Ukraine]: either you, the rest of the world loose looking to save it, a war thief, from violently wiping an entire country off the map, or you [Russian President Vladimir Putin],” Menendez said. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia chose the latter in a terrible resolution motivated by its own economic interest. “
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. , on Tuesday supports Menendez’s statement.
“I think it’s time for us to believe in a foreign policy where we don’t depend on Saudi Arabia,” Durbin told CNN.
Asked if he thought Saudi Arabia was looking to Russia to win the war, Dubin replied: “Yes, obviously it is. “
“Let’s be very frank about this, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Saudi Arabia oppose the United States,” said Durbin, who called Riyadh an unreliable ally.
“This concept that they’re going to increase our fuel costs and we intend to look the other way and we can call them smart old guys, it’s a shame,” the Illinois senator added. “I mean, it’s a horrible regime. This is a twenty-first century kingdom that is bankrupt.
Last week, one of the House Democrats announced that they were introducing a bill that would mandate the withdrawal of U. S. troops and missile defense systems from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in reaction to OPEC’s decision.
Durbin warned that he opposes the moves being made at U. S. “expense. “
“We have to conscientiously weigh those alliances with Saudi Arabia that they surely are and put everything else aside,” he said.
The House bill would move U. S. troops, apparatus and defense systems to the U. S. military. Tom Malinowski, one of the authors of the bill, said last week that the United States would still have a strong presence in the region for national security.
While the U. S. As the U. S. continues to reconsider its appointments with Saudi Arabia, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that the administration “will monitor closely over the coming weeks and months, consulting with our allies and also members of Congress and doing so once the policy review is underway. “
Jean-Pierre claimed that OPEC’s resolution means Saudi leaders “are aligning themselves with Russia and, for the time being, this is not the time to align with Russia. “The press secretary would not comment on whether the president agreed with Sen. Menendez’s call to necessarily freeze the sale of all weapons to Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Republicans have largely directed their ire at the OPEC resolution opposing Biden’s policies.
“President Biden would make us dependent on Saudi Arabia and open oil deals with Venezuela instead of unleashing American power from Texas,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted last week.