US weapons should be withdrawn from Saudi Arabia as punishment for oil output cuts, announced last week by the de-facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Democratic lawmakers have said.
“For several years, the US military has deployed Patriot missile defense batteries to Saudi Arabia to help defend oil infrastructure against missile and drone attacks. These advanced air and missile defense systems should be re-deployed to bolster the defenses of eastern flank NATO allies like Poland and Romania — or transferred to our Ukrainian partners,” Democratic Senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy said in a statement on Thursday.
Murphy, who is a member of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, also supported calls to “freeze new military aid to Saudi Arabia,” and called for the suspension of the planned sale of Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to Riyadh. The US government had cleared the Saudis to purchase 180 AMRAAM missiles for $650 million last year.
“Policy decisions have consequences, and these steps would right-size [the] relationship with Saudi Arabia and help Ukraine,” the senator argued.