US-Saudi ties at a new low

The letter from two thirds of the United States Senate to President Carter urging him to refuse the sale of extra fuel tanks and multiple ejection bomb racks for Saudi Arabia's F-15 has jolted the kingdom's foreign policy and led to a public dispute between the Washington administration and the Saudi ruling family. The Saudi ambassador to Washington Sheikh Faisal al-Hejelan has accused the United States of putting Israel ahead of its real interests in the Middle East and has hinted strongly that Saudi Arabia might buy its arms elsewhere.