Republican Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota is reacting to Saudi Arabia reportedly considering accepting the Chinese yuan instead of US dollars for oil sales.
Saudi Arabia said Monday it would not accept blame for international oil shortages after several Saudi facilities were attacked by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over the weekend.
The Saudi press agency quoted an official, unnamed source in the kingdom’s foreign ministry as sharing a statement that the world’s largest oil exporter “will not accept responsibility for any shortages in oil supplies to global markets in light of the attacks.”
Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud on February 16, 2022. ((Photo by Stipe Majic/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
The statement went on to say, “The Kingdom stresses the importance of the international community recognizing the seriousness of Iran’s continued behavior in arming the Houthi terrorist militias with ballistic missile technology and advanced UAVs to use in the… Production bases of the Kingdom are attacking oil, gas and refined products, leading to serious consequences for upstream and downstream sectors, affecting the Kingdom’s production capacity and its ability to meet its obligations, no doubt undermining the security and sustainability of energy supplies to the global markets. “
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Saudi state media reported that Houthis’ drone and missile strikes on Sunday hit a Saudi liquefied natural gas plant, a water desalination plant, an oil facility and a power plant.
In this photo provided by the Saudi Press Agency, firefighters try to extinguish a fire at an Aramco terminal in the southern border city of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, early Sunday, March 20, 2022. ((Saudi Press Agency via AP) / AP Newsroom )
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The Saudi-led military coalition said there were no human fatalities in the attacks, but civilian vehicles and homes were also damaged.
The Kingdom’s statement comes as the world grapples with oil shortages and sky-high fuel prices, which have been rising for more than a year and hit records in the US in recent weeks. Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations have been under pressure to increase production – particularly after prices continued to rise following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – but have so far refused.
Saudi Arabia’s condemnation of Iran, the world’s top sponsor of terrorism, also comes as the Biden administration seeks to revive a nuclear deal with Iran that was canceled by President Obama in 2015 and ended by President Trump in 2018.
A meeting at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) headquarters with OPEC members and non-OPEC members in Vienna, Austria, on December 7, 2018. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP / Getty Images)
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White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan condemned Houthi forces in Yemen after Sunday’s attacks on Saudi facilities, and an unnamed senior White House official told the Associated Press the next day that the US had been in the last Weeks have deployed several Patriot missile interceptors to Saudi Arabia to help the kingdom repel airstrikes by Iran-backed militias.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.