US Senator Chris Koons said that President Joe Biden is likely to suspend the sale of new weapons to Saudi Arabia amid a row between Washington and Riyadh over the decision to cut oil production.
“I think both the administration and the Senate will take action, and one of the most likely actions is to suspend any future arms sales to Saudi Arabia,” Koons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committee, told CNN Friday.
These statements come as the Biden administration continues to escalate a war of words against Riyadh amid Saudi support for a 2 million bpd cut in oil production.
And yesterday, on Thursday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that his country would consider the consequences of the decision of OPEC +, led by Saudi Arabia, to reduce oil production for relations between Washington and Riyadh.
In this context, the White House has classified the OPEC+ organization’s decision as “corresponding to the level of moral and military support” for the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia denied accusations that the decision to cut oil production was politically motivated.
On October 5, the OPEC+ alliance announced a two-million-bpd production cut starting next November, pushing oil prices up about 10 percent before slipping slightly this week.
Source: agencies