Teletrader reports.United States Senator and Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chair Robert Menendez said on Monday that he will stop approving “any cooperation with Riyadh” until Saudi Arabia “reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine,”.
Referring to the decision by the OPEC+ group to slash oil production, the Democratic lawmaker from New Jersey claimed Saudi Arabia is trying to “help” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “war through the OPEC+ cartel.” Menendez stressed in a press release that “there simply is no room to play both sides” of the conflict in Ukraine and alleged that Riyadh chose Russia “in a terrible decision driven by economic self-interest.” Washington “must immediately freeze all aspects of our cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including any arms sales and security cooperation beyond what is-absolutely necessary to defend U.S. personnel and interests,” the Democrat underlined.
Last week’s decision by OPEC+ is expected to keep oil prices high globally and to drive up prices of gasoline again in the US, developments that reportedly hurt Democrats’ chances ahead of critical midterm elections next month.
