On Monday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration remains alarmed by escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia and that Saudi Arabia faces "genuine security threats" from Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi movement and elsewhere in the region.
"We of course continue to work in close cooperation with the Saudis, given the threat," Psaki told a daily news briefing.
Notably, the United States has recently said that it is committed to defending Saudi Arabia following drone and missile attacks claimed by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, including on a Saudi facility vital to oil exports.
Saudi authorities said there were no casualties or property losses from Sunday's attacks targeting an oil storage yard at Ras Tanura, the site of a refinery and the world's biggest offshore oil loading facility, and a residential compound in Dhahran used by state-controlled oil giant Saudi Aramco.
The attacks, which drove Brent crude prices above $70 a barrel to their highest since January 2020, come at a time of friction in the decades-old alliance between Saudi Arabia and the United States as President Joe Biden puts pressure on Riyadh over its human rights record and the ruinous Yemen war.
"The heinous Houthi assaults on civilians and vital infrastructure demonstrate lack of respect for human life and disregard for peace efforts," the U.S. embassy in the kingdom said in an Arabic-language Twitter post.
"The United States stands by Saudi Arabia and its people. Our commitment to defend the Kingdom and its security is firm."
The Houthis have been battling a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen for six years in a conflict largely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
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