RIYADH —
Saudi Arabia has rejected US accusations of
aligning itself with Russia amid the Ukraine war by making oil production cuts
to drive up crude prices, insisting it was purely a business decision.
اضافة اعلان
“We are astonished by the accusations that the
kingdom is standing with Russia in its war with
Ukraine,” the Saudi defense
minister, Prince Khaled bin Salman, tweeted late Sunday.
The Saudi-led OPEC+ cartel — which includes Russia —
has angered Washington by deciding to cut production by 2 million barrels per
day from November, adding further pressure on soaring crude prices.
“It is telling that these false accusations did not
come from the Ukrainian government,” Prince Khaled wrote.
“Although the OPEC+ decision, which was taken
unanimously, was due to purely economic reasons, some accused the kingdom of
standing with Russia.
“Iran is also a member of
OPEC, does this mean that
the kingdom is standing with Iran as well?” he asked, referring to Saudi
Arabia’s regional rival.
In a speech broadcast on Sunday night, Saudi King
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud insisted his country was “working hard, within its
energy strategy, to support the stability and balance of global oil markets”.
Re-evaluation
Appearing on CNN on Monday,
Fahad Nazer, spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington, similarly stressed
that the OPEC+ move was “determined strictly by market fundamentals”.
He also emphasized the importance of US-Saudi ties,
noting that the two countries cooperated in repelling Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and more recently in fighting against Daesh.
“If that’s not the definition of an alliance, I
don’t know what is. We certainly consider the US to be our strongest partner.
It has been for the past 80 years,” Nazer said.
“And it is by far our most important strategic
partnership. And we certainly look forward to continue well into the future.”
The UAE and Bahrain, which like
Saudi Arabia are US
partners as well as OPEC members, also defended the cartel’s decision Sunday as
a “technical” move.
White House
spokesman John Kirby said last week that Riyadh knew the cut “would increase
Russian revenues and blunt the effectiveness of sanctions” on Moscow.
The US has vowed to re-evaluate ties with the
oil-rich kingdom since the cut, which was seen as a diplomatic slap in the face
for President Joe Biden by hiking prices on US consumers weeks before
congressional elections.
Biden travelled to Saudi Arabia in July and met with
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — with the two greeting each other with a
high-profile fist bump.
But with relations now strained, US National Security
Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday that Biden has “no plans” to meet with Prince
Mohammed at an upcoming G20 summit in Indonesia.
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