US President Joe Biden has warned that Saudi Arabia will suffer “consequences” while promising to reassess the US relationship with Riyadh in discussions with Congress the following month.
On Tuesday, this statement from President Biden came after Saudi Arabia announced significant cuts to oil output last week.
The US president, while giving an interview with CNN said, “When the House and Senate get back after the midterm elections… there’s going to be consequences.”
Biden promised to punish Saudi Arabia for its decision to reduce oil production, which threatened to send oil prices surging while downplaying the possibility of a severe US economic slowdown even as the IMF issued a pessimistic worldwide prediction for 2023.
Biden has been under increasing pressure from Democrats in Congress to adopt a much harder stance towards Saudi Arabia after a decision that many on Capitol Hill viewed as a betrayal of the countries’ strong strategic and economic relations.
While some have advocated legislation to target the oil cartels, others have called for a potential halt to the majority of arms supplies to Riyadh.
The president reaffirmed his move to visit Saudi Arabia in July, where he gave Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a fist bump.
He said that the trip was not about oil but rather about showing that the US was “not going to walk away from the Middle East”.
