Tehran Says Britain Touts Iran 'Threat' To Make 'Massive' Arms Sales In Gulf

British Prime Minister Theresa May

Iran shot back at British Prime Minister Theresa May after she called the country a "threat" at a meeting with Arab Gulf states in Bahrain on December 7.

Britain is "not in a position to accuse others of interfering in regional affairs," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi said in Tehran.

Ghassemi suggested May "wanted to please some of the Gulf states with these ill-considered remarks" with the goal of signing "new massive arms deals" involving British weapons.

May earlier told Gulf Cooperation Council representatives from Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Saudi Arabia that a nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers last year was "vitally important" to regional security because it "neutralized the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons for over a decade."

But she said she was "clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and the wider Middle East" and said she would work with Gulf nations to "counter that threat."

"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," she said.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa