https://www.aa.com.tr/en/energy/energy-diplomacy/saudi-bahrain-welcome-us-sanctions-on-iran-oil/25237

Saudi Arabia is an oil producing nation! And yes, that is one way to manipulate oil prices. That was the whole idea behind OPEC. But also supply and demand determine the price as well as the season. They sell a different blend of gasoline in the summer than they do in the winter, so that causes fluctuation at the pump. Another thing that influences oil prices is conservationists not wanting us to drill on lands that support wildlife. And when the price of oil is high enough it will be profitable to extract it from shale. But then you have those complaining against fracking. Some even say OPEC kept the price of oil low to put frackers out of business when they were first trying to get it up and going. But in a free market society the price of a thing is determined by both the buyer and the seller. If you don't want to pay that price for it don't buy it. Or, as is more reasonable in this case, buy less of it. Then demand will decrease and price will drop. I think it would be best to get off oil as much as possible, but it will take a while. Most of the US power supply comes from oil. Which is why electric vehicles are somewhat of a catch 22 until we reduce the amount of oil needed to supply our power. We have a nuclear power plant here, so our rates are cheap and an electric vehicle will reduce oil demand. And our buses use natural gas.

Restricting the supply of any consumer good while the demand stays constant is always beneficial to those who control the supply. That's the way a free market works.