“This whole issue does not require any comment because these sanctions stipulate the halting of a small US assistance of 26,000 dollars that the US administration is granting for a development project in Saudi Arabia,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“Moreover, the US-Zionist lobby hostile toward Saudi Arabia is behind these accusations mentioned in the report,” he charged.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided last week to postpone by six months imposing sanctions against Riyadh in the wake of a US finding that the Saudi government denied residents some of the most basic religious freedoms.

In a report on religious freedom released a year ago, Washington accused Riyadh of backing anti-Jewish and anti-Christian campaigns, torturing non-Muslims and discriminating against Shiites and other Muslims who do not adhere to the officially-sanctioned Wahhabi Sunni doctrine.

Rice decided to exercise her right to a waiver after talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal, who visited Washington last week to discuss key security and economic issues, including the war in Iraq and ways to rein in runaway oil prices.

Saudi Arabia controls one-fourth of the world’s proven oil reserves and is the largest net exporter of crude.

During the first five months of this year, the kingdom supplied the United States with 1.5 million barrels of oil a day, which is roughly 15 percent of all US oil imports, according to US energy officials.