Paper: Saudi crown prince threatened to inflict ‘major’ economic pain on US amid oil feud
A classified document has revealed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) threatened to impose significant economic costs on Washington after US President Joe Biden warned Riyadh over its decision to slash oil production last fall.
Eight months after Biden vowed "consequences" for Saudi Arabia after oil output cuts, the US president has yet to take any measures against the Arab country and MbS has continued to engage with top US officials, as he did with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the seaside Saudi city of Jeddah earlier this week.
Biden, who had pledged to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” as a presidential candidate, now scarcely communicates with the crown prince but the president’s top aides have gradually rebuilt ties with him hoping the two nations can work together on pressing issues, including normalization with Israel, Saudi Arabia’s growing relationship with China, a long-sought peace deal in Yemen and continued disagreements over the supply of oil.
A second leaked US intelligence document from December last year also warned that Saudi Arabia plans to expand its “transactional relationship” with China by procuring drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and mass surveillance systems from Beijing.
During a news conference alongside Blinken in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud highlighted that China and Saudi Arabia are close and strategic allies and have been increasing cooperation in the energy and financial sectors, and that “cooperation is likely to grow.”
He said Saudi Arabia’s ties with the United States and China were not a “zero-sum game.”
Riyadh’s strengthening of its commercial and security ties with Beijing comes as US influence wanes in West Asia region.
ME
