Saudi’s crown prince promised pain for the US if it retaliated against oil cuts, report says. His threat seems to have paid off.

Saudi’s crown prince promised pain for the US if it retaliated against oil cuts, report says. His threat seems to have paid off.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman presented an image of unity and friendship this week at a summit in Riyadh. The pair at the meeting "affirmed their shared commitment to advance stability, security, and prosperity across the Middle East and beyond," But only months earlier, according to leaked Pentagon the autocratic Saudi was taking a very different, and more menacing, tone amid an escalating oil dispute with the US. The dispute flared up last October when the Saudis reduced oil production in tandem with Russia, the US chief global adversary, souring relations between Riyadh and its decades-old allies in Washington, D.C. The move infuriated President Joe Biden, who promised the Saudis there'd be "consequences" amid fears it'd spike domestic inflation and damage his prospects in the US midterm elections. The crown prince's response, according to the documents, was to threaten the US with the prospect of economic calamity. That threat appears to have paid off. Months after the dispute, Biden's promised "consequences" have yet to materialise. Instead he has sent a series of top White House officials, with Blinken the latest, to court the crown prince in Riyadh The crown prince said