The US Congress is considering the bill that would allow Washington to take Saudi royals to court over involvement in attacks against US citizens on American soil, most notably the 9/11 tragedy.
In his turn Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir has threatened the US leadership to sell off up to $750 billion in US dollar holdings and thus far to deal a serious blow to the US dollar if the bill is passed.
Riyadh's anxiety might originate in the 28-page classified Congressional Report of 2002 regarding 9/11, they suggested.
Interestingly enough, Saudi Arabia's threats have apparently been taken to heart by US policymakers.
"The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill's passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon," The New York Times reported on April, 15.
"The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation," the media outlet stressed.
Does it mean Riyadh is really capable of dumping the US dollar?
"They are threatening [to do it] and they are capable of it and it shows you how fragile this [the US'] system is and how ridiculous our foreign policy is," Ron Paul remarked.
"The markets may overreact to it. But it would be devastating to the dollar and it would be devastating to the stock market. If the market believed what was going on it would be huge for people rushing to protect themselves in gold and silver," he noted.
Furthermore, if Washington passes the bill Riyadh may respond much in a similar vein and start arresting Americans in a tit-for-tat manner.
There is yet another reason why the White House is not much enthusiastic about enacting the law.
Commenting on Saudi Arabia's unwillingness to be held responsible for the 9/11 tragedy Ron Paul noted that normally Washington would turn a deaf ear to such sheer blackmailing "unless there could be something that we [Washington] are trying to hide that we have done."
"And I suspect that might be possible," the former congressman suggested.
The expert agreed that neither Washington nor Riyadh is interested in aggravating tensions. It is likely that Barack Obama and the Saudi leadership will make every effort to settle the problem quietly, Paul and McAdams noted.
