Pleasing the US Is a Rather Difficult Task

Pleasing the US Is a Rather Difficult Task

International and Arab News

Some Americans seem to be more enthusiastic about punishing Riyadh for its participation in voting for the decrease of oil production than they had been eager to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

As disagreements over oil prices have been a constant and recurring problem (since they reflect a dispute between the consumer and the producer), the politicization of the recent disagreement – driven by Riyadh’s critics – will instead harm the high interests of both Saudi Arabia and the US.

It is worth mentioning that besides Saudi Arabia and the UAE, OPEC countries were unanimously in favor of reducing oil production, as they hoped that this procedure might prevent oil prices from a catastrophic fall since just two years earlier, it sold it at $40 per barrel. A recurrence of this scenario would be destructive to the oil-producing countries, as the high oil prices are disastrous to consuming nations.

Meanwhile, apart from their recent dispute over oil prices, Riyadh and Washington share a large group of equally significant vital common interests that make one think it highly unlikely for the efforts to ruin their bilateral relations to succeed.

For one thing, Saudi Arabia is confronting Iranian coup-mongers in Yemen,