UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has accused Saudi Arabia, a longstanding British ally in the Middle East, of engaging in proxy wars, “puppeteering” and “abusing religion” in the pursuit of its political objectives.
His blunt comments, made a week ago during a conference in Rome, have created a stir in UK media since they run counter to a diplomatic tradition of not criticizing UK allies.
Speaking during a panel discussion, Johnson blamed a lack of strong leadership for issues of division in the region, saying, “You’ve got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in, and puppeteering and playing proxy wars, and it’s a tragedy to watch it.”
Leaders are not willing to reach out beyond their own Sunni, Shia or other religious group to “bring people together and to develop a national story again,” he said.
“There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest political problems in the whole region.
“And the tragedy for me — and that’s why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area — is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves.”
Asked about Johnson’s comments, the UK Foreign Office stressed the strength of the bond between Britain and Saudi Arabia.
“We are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts,” it said.
CNN has reached out to Saudi Arabia and Iran, but they have not yet responded to a request for comment.
May promises Gulf defense spending
Johnson, who was appointed foreign secretary by Prime Minister Theresa May in July, is known for his outspoken ways and sometimes less than diplomatic use of language.
But his remarks on Saudi Arabia, first reported by Britain’s Guardian newspaper, are particularly sensitive since they have emerged in the wake of a visit by May to the region.
In a speech Wednesday to the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Bahrain, the UK Prime Minister promised £3 billion (about $3.78 billion) in defense spending in the region over the next decade.
She also hailed Britain’s longstanding friendships with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which brings together Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.
“As the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, I am determined that we should seize the opportunity to get out into the world and to shape an even bigger global role for my country: yes, to build new alliances but more importantly, to go even further in working with old friends, like our allies here in the Gulf, who have stood alongside us for centuries.”
Iran called ‘threat’ to Middle East
Johnson and his boss appear to be on the same page over Iran, with the May telling the council she was “clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and the wider Middle East.”
Britain and the Gulf nations, May said, must work together to combat “Iran’s aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself.”
May, who was the first woman to address the Gulf Cooperation Council summit, has been under pressure at home to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia over its role in the war in neighboring Yemen.
While Saudi Arabia leads a coalition aimed at restoring the internationally recognized Yemeni government to power, Iran backs the rebel Houthi movement, which has seized the capital, Sanaa, and sought to form a new government.
