LIMA (Dispatches) -- The United States is reviewing various options regarding its relationship with Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and other OPEC+ nations agreed this week to large cuts in oil production, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.
“As for the relationship (with Riyadh) going forward, we’re reviewing a number of response options. We’re consulting closely with Congress,” Blinken said at a news conference in Lima alongside his Peruvian counterpart.
Blinken did not specify what steps Washington was considering. Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration has been mulling a response after the OPEC+ oil producers, which include Russia, agreed on Wednesday to slash production.
Democrats in the U.S. Congress called on Thursday to slash military sales to Saudi Arabia. Some lawmakers question Washington’s security ties with Riyadh, angered by civilian deaths in Saudi-led military operations in Yemen as well as human rights abuses.
Biden’s administration worries that decreased oil output could push up the price of gasoline right before the Nov. 8 U.S. midterm elections, when Democrats will defend their control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Biden has yet to announce what steps Washington might take in response to the cuts. Blinken said during the news conference in Peru that Washington would not do anything that infringes upon its interests.
“That’s, first and foremost, what will guide us, and we will keep all of those interests in mind and consult closely with all the relevant stakeholders as we decide on any steps going forward,” Blinken said.
The State Department on Thursday approved a $3 billion medium-range missile defense system sale for Kuwait.
The move paves the way for Kuwait to get the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS. The weapon is manufactured as a joint venture between U.S.-based Raytheon Technologies and Norway’s Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace, though the principal contractor on the Kuwait sale is Raytheon. The United States itself uses NASAMS to protect the airspace over the White House and the Pentagon.
While the estimated cost for Kuwait comes in at $3 billion, the final dollar amount is subject to change until the Pentagon finalizes a contract with Raytheon.
At U.S. Congress, several Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation that would remove all American troops and missile systems from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of OPEC’s largest producers.
They also accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia to raise prices amid signs that the global economy is slowing, with the move seen as a win for Moscow.
“We see no reason why American troops and contractors should continue to provide this service to countries that are actively working against us. If Saudi Arabia and the UAE want to help Putin, they should look to him for their defense,” the lawmakers said in a statement.
“It is time for the United States to resume acting like the superpower in our relationship with our client states in the Persian Gulf. They have made a choice and should live with the consequences. Our troops and military equipment are needed elsewhere.”
Earlier this year, U.S. President Joe Biden made a visit to the oil-rich kingdom and met with its crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, in an attempt to repair the countries’ relationship. Relations had been strained during the early days of the Biden administration.
The U.S. president left Saudi Arabia saying he expected Riyadh to take “further steps” to boost oil supply.
The visit was heavily criticized by Democrats, as well as by Saudi activists, who saw the move as ignoring the kingdom’s human rights abuses in a bid to get Saudi assurances on cheaper energy.
Now, with this latest production cut, the critics of Biden’s decision to placate Saudi Arabia - and to gloss over the murder of The Washington Post and Middle East Eye columnist Jamal Khashoggi - are calling for a complete overhaul of the U.S.-Saudi relationship.
“Many argued that we had to ‘repair’ our relationship with our Persian Gulf partners to win their cooperation in stabilizing global energy markets following Russia’s invasion, and President Biden made every effort to do so,” the lawmaker said.
“Saudi Arabia and the UAE have now answered our overtures with a slap in the face that will hurt American consumers and undermine our national interests.”
Saudi Arabia is heavily dependent on U.S. support to sustain its military. Last month, NBC News reported that U.S. Central Command was working on a new military testing facility in the kingdom.
A recent poll from the Eurasia Group Foundation also found a majority of Americans were opposed to continued U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Senator Chris Murphy, a vocal critic of Riyadh, hit out at the nature of Washington’s relationship with the kingdom, saying that, even after turning a blind eye to its human rights violations and supplying it with arms, Saudi Arabia had turned its back on the U.S.
“I thought the whole point of selling arms to the Persian Gulf states despite their human rights abuses, nonsensical Yemen war, working against U.S. interests in Libya, Sudan etc, was that when an international crisis came, the Persian Gulf could choose America over Russia/China,” Murphy posted on Twitter.