President Biden warned Tuesday that Saudi Arabia would face “consequences” after OPEC last week announced a cut in oil production since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Top Democrats on Capitol Hill condemned the resolution by Saudi Arabia, the de facto head of the oil alliance, to cut off global oil supplies. The oil surge is seen as helping Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter, finance its war in Ukraine.
“There will be consequences for what they did with Russia,” Biden said of Saudi Arabia in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I’m not going to get into what I would do and what I have in mind. But there will be. . . There will be consequences.
The president indicated that Congress will act when it returns to the consultation after the midterm elections.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a news conference Tuesday that the United States would think again about being with Saudi Arabia following OPEC’s “decision to align its power politics with Russia’s war. “
“We want to think again and have another appointment with Saudi Arabia,” he said, adding that the White House will review its policies in the coming weeks and months.
Asked via Tapper if it’s time for the U. S. to reconsider its relationship with Saudi Arabia, Biden replied, “Yes. “
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N. J. , who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, on Monday on Biden’s move to “immediately freeze” U. S. cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
OPEC’s announcement that it will cut output by 2 million barrels a day came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed nuclear threats he first made when Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Putin warned he opposed the use of nuclear weapons expired last month in a televised national address in which his defense minister announced the recall of 300,000 reservists after the Russian armed forces suffered serious setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.
In candid comments at a Democratic fundraiser last week, Biden said there was a “direct threat” of nuclear weapons for the first time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, “if, in fact, things continue the way they are going. “
Asked Tuesday how the U. S. would react if Putin risked using weapons of mass destruction, Biden told CNN that the Defense Department had discussed that possibility.
“There have been discussions about this, but I’ll move on to the details,” Biden said. “It would be irresponsible of me to communicate what we would or wouldn’t do. “
He also warned that it is unwise for Putin to raise the specter of nuclear weapons.
“I don’t think I’m going to use them,” Biden said. But I think it’s irresponsible of them to communicate it. “
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