Senate chair urges to halt cooperation with Saudis

WASHINGTON — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman called for the suspension of all US cooperation with Saudi Arabia on Monday, delivering one of the strongest expressions yet of US anger over Saudi oil production cuts that serve to boost Russia in its conflict with Ukraine.

In a statement, chairman Robert Menendez specifically called for the cutting off of all arms sales and security cooperation — one of the underpinnings of the more than 70-year US strategic partnership with the oil kingdom — beyond the minimum necessary to defend United States interests.

As committee chairman, Menendez vowed he "will not greenlight any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position" with respect to the Ukrainian crisis.

His statement comes four days after Saudi Arabia and Russia led OPEC nations in announcing a cut of 2 million barrels a day in oil production. The production cut risks saddling US President Joe Biden and Democrats with rising gasoline prices just ahead of US midterms.

Menendez's announcement on Monday places him among a growing number of Democrats that have called for stopping what are billions of dollars in annual US arms sales to Saudi Arabia since the announcement by OPEC nations.

The Democrats accuse Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud of effectively flouting the Saudi side of a decadeslong bargain that has consisted of the US military and defense industry providing security for Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia providing world markets with a reliable flow of oil in turn.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was among Democrats blasting Prince Mohammed for seeming to act in support of Russia's military operation.

Schumer declared then that lawmakers were looking at legislative options to deal with what he called Saudi Arabia's "appalling and deeply cynical action".

Within a day of the OPEC move, Democratic lawmakers were introducing new legislation to stop US arms sales to the kingdom. Menendez's action, given his key role shepherding foreign policy legislation, raises the prospect that Congress could act to punish the Saudis during the lame duck period after the November elections.

Biden said last week he was disappointed with Saudi Arabia's role in the latest oil production cut.

Last week's oil production cuts delivered one of the sharpest yet in a series of blows in the US and Saudi relationship.

Agencies Via Xinhua