Two senior US officials visited Saudi Arabia this week for talks on Iran, global energy supplies and regional issues, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday.
Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk and the State Department’s senior advisor for energy security Amos Hochstein met senior Saudi officials in Riyadh.
“I will confirm that Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein were in the region to follow up on conversations on a range of issues including Iran’s destabilizing activities, ensuring stable global energy supplies and other regional issues,” Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing.
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She added: “This trip is to review engagement with Saudi Arabia on energy security, as asking for oil is simply wrong. That’s the way we see it and a misunderstanding of both the complexity of that issue as well as our multi-faceted discussions with the Saudis.”
Jean-Pierre added that OPEC+ will make its own decisions as it relates to oil production and export levels. “We are in consultation with all relevant producers about market conditions including Saudi Arabia.”
The US has been asking Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, to increase oil production to lower prices that have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine.
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