President Joe Biden is rethinking the U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship following last week’s OPEC+ oil production cut announcement, a White House official said, the latest sign that Democrats are coalescing around a tougher stance toward Riyadh after the kingdom sided with Russian interests over those of the United States.
“I think the president’s been very clear that this is a relationship that we need to continue to reevaluate, that we need to be willing to revisit,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday in a CNN interview.
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“And certainly in light of the OPEC decision, I think that’s where he is,” he said.
The White House has made clear it views last week’s decision by Saudi Arabia as a betrayal, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre telling reporters last week: “It’s clear that OPEC+ is aligning with Russia” in cutting production.
Meanwhile, Biden is facing pressure from senior Democrats in Congress to take action against Saudi Arabia. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) said the Biden administration must “immediately freeze all aspects” of U.S.-Saudi relations, including most arms sales. He accused Riyadh of helping “underwrite” Russia’s war in Ukraine through the oil production cuts.
“As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine,” Menendez said in a statement.
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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), also called for reevaluating the relationship, ticking off a list of human rights abuses carried out by the kingdom.
“From unanswered questions about 9/11, the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and the exporting of extremism to dubious jailing of peaceful dissidents and conspiring with Vladimir Putin to punish the U.S. with higher oil prices, the Saudi royal family has never been a trustworthy ally of our nation,” Durbin said. “It’s time for our foreign policy to imagine a world without this alliance with these royal backstabbers.”
