U.S. President Joe Biden pledged on Tuesday there will be "consequences" for Saudi Arabia after the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance announced last week that it would cut its oil production target over U.S. objections, prompting Democratic lawmakers to call for a freeze on cooperation with the kingdom.
Biden suggested he would soon take action, as aides announced that the administration is reevaluating its relationship with Saudi Arabia in light of the oil production cut that White House officials say will help another OPEC+ member, Russia, pad its coffers as it continues its nearly eight-month war in Ukraine.
The announcement came a day after powerful Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States must immediately freeze all cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Ro Khanna of California introduced legislation that would immediately pause all U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia for one year. This pause would also halt sales of spare and repair parts, support services and logistical support.
But it remains to be seen how far Biden is willing to go in showing his displeasure with the Saudis, a vital but complicated ally in the Middle East. Biden came into office vowing to recalibrate the U.S. relationship because of Saudi Arabia's human rights record but then paid a visit to the kingdom earlier this year.
Biden said in a CNN interview he would look to consult with Congress on the way forward, but stopped short of endorsing the Democratic lawmakers' call to halt weapons sales.
"There's going to be some consequences for what they've done, with Russia," Biden said. "I'm not going to get into what I'd consider and what I have in mind. But there will be – there will be consequences."
John Kirby, a White House National Security Council spokesperson, said Biden believes "it's time to take another look at this relationship and make sure that it's serving our national security interests."
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 United States will be watching the situation closely "over the coming weeks and months," she said.
OPEC+, which includes Russia as well as Saudi Arabia, announced last week it would cut production by 2 million barrels a day, which will help prop up oil prices that are allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep paying for his invasion of Ukraine.
The production cut also hurts U.S.-led efforts to make the war financially unsustainable for Russia, threatens a global economy already destabilized by the Ukraine conflict and risks saddling Biden and Democrats with newly rising gasoline prices just ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Tuesday said the OPEC+ decision was purely economic and was taken unanimously by its member states.
"OPEC+ members acted responsibly and took the appropriate decision," he told the Saudi-owed Al Arabiya television channel.
Biden and European leaders have urged more oil production to ease gasoline prices and punish Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine. Putin has been accused of using energy as a weapon against countries opposing Russia's invasion.
"They are certainly aligning themselves with Russia," Jean-Pierre said. "This is not a time to be aligning with Russia."
The United States accused Saudi Arabia of kowtowing to Russia, which objects to a Western cap on the price of Russian oil in response to its invasion.
"We cannot continue selling highly sensitive arms technology to a nation aligned with an abhorrent terrorist adversary," Sen. Blumenthal said.
U.S. officials had been quietly trying to persuade its biggest Arab partner to abandon the idea of a production cut, but Saudi Arabia's de facto 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.
Eye on Iran
Kirby 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," he added.
However, the White House takes note that its weapon sales to Riyadh serve, in part, as an important counterweight in the region to Iran, which is quickly moving toward becoming a nuclear power.
"There's 70,000 Americans living in Saudi Arabia right now, not to mention all the other troops we have throughout the region," Kirby said. "So, it's not only in our interest that missile defense in the region become more integrated and cooperative. It's in the interest of our allies and partners in that part of the world as well."
State Department spokesperson Ned Price also said on Tuesday that the Biden administration would not overlook Iran, a U.S. adversary and a bitter regional rival of Saudi Arabia, in the review.
Prince Faisal said that military cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia served the interests of both countries.
Much of U.S. 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.
"Saudi Arabia's disastrous decision to slash oil production by two million barrels a day makes it clear that Riyadh is seeking to harm the U.S. and reaffirms the need to reassess the U.S.-Saudi relationship," Sen. Khanna said.
