TEHRAN- On October 25, Reuters reported “Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday [October 25] that some countries were using their emergency stocks to manipulate markets when their purpose should be to mitigate any shortages of supply … “It is my profound duty to make clear to the world that losing (releasing) emergency stocks may be painful in the months to come,” the Saudi minister told the Future Initiative Investment (FII) conference in Riyadh.

The Saudi minister was blackmailing the U.S. with a direct threat — If you add to supplies now from your strategic reserves and later you are short and need more oil, then good luck because we won’t do a damn thing. You can freeze! It’s your problem.

It’s high time for the United States to get tough with Saudi Arabia and stop pussyfooting around with the Al-Sauds.

The U.S. should immediately convey the following message in private to Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and his brother, Abdulaziz:

“President Biden was shocked by the oil minister’s threats delivered in Riyadh on October 25th.

The United States is not the market manipulator, in fact OPEC and its leader, Saudi Arabia, are the market manipulators par excellence.”

The message should continue: “We have put you in this leadership position in OPEC, which has enabled you to manipulate oil supplies and markets. We have isolated Iran to support you and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation countries’ (GCC) national interests. Our major instrument has been economic sanctions on Iran. We have banned investment in Iran’s energy sector and sanctioned the sale of Iran’s oil and gas. If we had not done this, Iran could possibly be exporting an additional 4 million barrels a day right now. And even if we lifted sanctions today Iran could immediately export an additional 1–1.5 MBD. We would have the oil we want with lower prices and Europe would by now be getting all the natural gas it desperately needs. We have been cautious and not done these to safeguard your security and protect your position in the region. We have also sold you our top-of-the-line weaponry, maintained them, trained your personnel and supplied you with intelligence. We took on all these policies to support your national interests and this is how you repay us, cutting oil production and supporting Russia’s war of aggression?

Enough is enough. President Biden does not care if he is a one-term president but he will defend U.S. interests. So back down immediately or these are the options we are considering:

First, a total freeze on the sale of all weapons and spare parts to you. Withdrawal of Patriot batteries and their transfer to Ukraine. Withdrawal of all military advisors and contractors. No direct intelligence sharing and discouraging Israeli cooperation in all military matters with the GCC.

Second, we are at a pivotal point in our dealings with Iran. Here are our options and what we ultimately decide in part depends on your cooperation.

-We can lift all sanctions on Iran’s oil and gas exports. Or we can do this with the constraint that all proceeds go into a special United Nation’s account restricted for the purchase of food and medicines for the Iranian people, much as was done years ago in the case of Iraq. We could similarly remove sanctions on Venezuela.

-We can rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement (JCPOA) and remove the sanctions mentioned. In this case we could also enable much wider sanction relief, including investment in Iran’s energy sector.

We will determine which option best serves our national interests. Our decision will be in part determined by what you decide. So please tell us what you plan within the next two weeks.”

A warning to the White House. MBS has heard much advice on how best to deal with Biden and the United States. He believes it is money that talks in the U.S. through lobbying. So he has tried to build a lobbying firewall by expanding his secret cooperation with Israel, hiring dozens of retired American military men, including generals and admirals, enlisting well-placed Americans and corporations and even gifting nearly $1 billion to a number of U.S. universities for their support. If MBS does not back down, this firewall must be dealt with.