In an ongoing verbal battle between the two countries, the White House asserted on Thursday that Saudi Arabia forced other OPEC+ countries to cut their output last week.

According to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, "more than one" OPEC member disagreed with Saudi Arabia's push to reduce production and felt pressured into the decision. He declared he wouldn't name the participants so they could speak for themselves.

Kirby pushed back against Riyadh's claims that the output cut was "purely economic" in an earlier statement on Thursday. "The United States presented Saudi Arabia with an analysis showing there was no market basis to lower oil production before the OPEC+ decision to cut output," Kirby said.

Even though supplies are thought to be limited globally, the 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, which include Russia, reduced their production target by 2 million barrels per day last week. Experts predict that only about half of those production reductions will actually occur.

The Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the OPEC+ decision was adopted by consensus, took into account the balance of supply and demand, and was intended to reduce market volatility.

In a statement, Kirby claimed that reducing output would "increase Russian revenues and blunt the effectiveness of sanctions" against Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine in February. "The Saudi foreign ministry can try to spin or deflect, but the facts are simple," Kirby said.

After the November U.S. midterm elections, which will determine whether President Joe Biden's Democratic party will keep control of Congress, the United States could have delayed the cut until the following OPEC meeting, according to Kirby.

The production decrease is the most recent indication of deteriorating US-Saudi relations since Biden took office.