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Agencies

US 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 United States 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 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 plans for an oil production cut last week after weeks of lobbying against one by US officials.
The United States 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.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg


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Joe Biden

Joe Biden vows ‘consequences’ for Saudi Arabia after Opec sides with Russia to cut oil production

Ties have been strained between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US President Joe Biden. Photos: AFP

US President Joe Biden met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah in July. File photo: AFP

Kremlin praises Opec+ for countering US ‘mayhem’ in energy markets

Russian President Vladimir Putin. File photo: via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend the G20 leaders’ summit in Argentina in 2018. Photo: Reuters

Opec+ makes big oil cut to boost prices

A flare stack is seen at a Rosneft oil facility outside the town of Neftegorsk in Russia in September. Photo: Reuters

As PM, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has immunity in Jamal Khashoggi lawsuit, his lawyers say

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman has a meeting with officials at the defence ministry headquarters in Jeddah in September. Photo: Saudi Press Agency via AFP

A friend of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi holds a poster bearing his picture at an event in October 2020 in front of Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul marking the second-year anniversary of his assassination. Photo: TNS

Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, speaks outside the courthouse after a trial on his murder in Istanbul in April. Photo: Reuters

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World

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Middle East


US president responds to decision by Opec+ to slash production, a move the administration says will benefit Russia
Joe Biden’s own party members are pushing for him to end cooperation with Riyadh, including freezing arms sales



The coalition of oil-producing nations has decided to slash output by 2 million barrels a day, in a diplomatic snub to the US president.


Joe Biden vows ‘consequences’ for Saudi Arabia after Opec sides with Russia to cut oil production

US president responds to decision by Opec+ to slash production, a move the administration says will benefit Russia Joe Biden’s own party members are pushing for him to end cooperation with Riyadh, including freezing arms sales

US president responds to decision by Opec+ to slash production, a move the administration says will benefit Russia

Joe Biden’s own party members are pushing for him to end cooperation with Riyadh, including freezing arms sales