In public, the Saudi government defended its actions politely via diplomatic statements. But in private, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman threatened to fundamentally alter the decades-old U.S.-Saudi relationship and impose significant economic costs on the United States if it retaliated against the oil cuts, according to a classified document obtained by The Washington Post.

It is unclear whether the crown prince's threat was conveyed directly to U.S. officials or < wipes tears > intercepted through electronic eavesdropping, but his dramatic outburst reveals the tension at the heart of a relationship long premised on oil-for-security ["win-win"?] but rapidly evolving as China takes a growing interest in the Middle East and the United States assesses its own interests as the world's largest oil producer. The U.S. intelligence document was circulated on the Discord messaging platform as part of an EXTENSIVE LEAK OF HIGHLY SENSITIVE national security materials.

A spokesperson with the National Security Council said "we are not aware of such threats by Saudi Arabia."

"In general, such documents often represent only one snapshot of a moment in time and cannot possibly offer the full picture," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence matter.
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Blinken met with the crown prince, also known as MBS, for an hour and 40 minutes on Tuesday [6 June] during this three-day visit to the kingdom, U.S. officials said. The men had a "candid, open" conversation that included U.S. efforts to broker normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the conflict in Yemen, human rights and the fighting in Sudan.

Following Blinken's meetings, differences appeared to remain over Saudi Arabia's ambitions to generate nuclear power, seen by Washington and others as a potential proliferation risk, and the notion that the United States has a right to admonish the kingdom over its human rights record.
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