A day before President Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, one of his senior officials phoned key ally Saudi Arabia to ask the world’s largest oil exporter to help keep prices stable if the decision disrupted supply, Reuters reports.
As Reuters reports, although the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are close allies, rarely has the United States put direct pressure on a member of OPEC over oil policies. The last time the U.S. pressed Saudi Arabia to increase output was in 2012, not including President Trump’s tweet in May requesting that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations increase output via a Tweet.
The report cites unnamed officials with knowledge of the situation.
A senior Saudi official did not confirm the call but said: “We were made aware of the decision on the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) before the announcement…We always have conversations with the U.S. about the stability of the oil market,” according to the report.
