British Prime Minister Theresa May says, the United Kingdom will help the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in “pushing back against Iran’s aggressive regional actions” and in securing stability in the region.

May said to the leaders of the six GCC member countries in Bahrain, that, “As we address new threats to our security, so we must also continue to confront state actors whose influence fuels instability in the region.”

“So I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and the wider Middle East. The UK is fully committed to our strategic partnership with the Gulf and working with you to counter that threat,” the UK Prime minister said.

"We secured a deal which has neutralized the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons for over a decade. It has already seen Iran remove 13 thousand centrifuges together with associated infrastructure and eliminate its stock of 20 per cent enriched uranium,” she said.

"That was vitally important for regional security. But we must also work together to push back against Iran’s aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself,” May said.

“As part of the renewed relationship that I want to forge with you, the United Kingdom will make a more permanent and more enduring commitment to the long-term security of the Gulf. We will invest in hard power, with over £3 billion of defence spending in the region over the next decade, spending more on defence in the Gulf than in any other region of the world,” she said.

“Through the construction of HMS Jufair, and thanks to the generosity of the Kingdom of Bahrain, we will create a permanent presence in the region, the first such facility east of Suez since 1971, with more British warships, aircraft and personnel deployed on operations in the Gulf than in any other part of the world.”

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