The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez called on the Biden Administration to halt all arms sales and intel sharing with Saudi Arabia in response to the kingdom’s cutting oil production to help Russia, the Associated Press reports.
Last week, Saudi Arabia and Russia persuaded OPEC to cut world oil supplies by two million barrels per day in order to raise the price of oil, which would help cash-strapped Russia. One of the few valuable exports Russia can make to some nations is its oil, so higher prices help raise cash. More cash allows Russia to carry on its invasion of Ukraine.
Menendez, however, wants to make the security of the Saudi royal family a bargaining chip and he said he “will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine. Enough is enough.”