British FM in Riyadh after controversial comments

By Ahmed al-Masry

RIYADH (AA)- British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson arrived Sunday in the Saudi capital Riyadh, a few days after making controversial comments about the oil-rich kingdom.

Last week, Johnson accused Saudi Arabia and Iran of fighting “proxy wars” across the Middle East.

On Sunday, the top British diplomat arrived in Riyadh and was welcomed at King Khalid International Airport by the Saudi ambassador in London, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi SPA news agency reported.

In his speech in Rome last week, Johnson criticized Riyadh and Tehran for “twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives”.

“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,” he said.

Johnson, however, on Friday delivered a speech in Bahrain in which he praised economic and strategic relations between London and the Gulf countries.