Your report of the prime minister’s speech in Bahrain (Theresa May calls on Gulf leaders to press on with economic reforms, theguardian.com, 7 December) quoted her support for the Iran nuclear deal and went on that she said the UK remained “clear-eyed” about Iran’s threat to the stability of the Middle East. You did not quote the words that followed: “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.”
What aggressive actions? In Syria Hezbollah and some Iranian “military advisers”, not numerous, have been backing the Syrian government, which may be bad but is hardly aggression. In Yemen there have been many reports of Iranian arms smuggled to the Houthi rebels, some of them quite convincing, and there may be more intelligence, but not to be compared to Saudi actions including reported war crimes using British material. In Iraq, Iran is taking part in action against Isis in Mosul alongside the Iraqi government and the US-led coalition.
These accusations, and more on Lebanon, Bahrain, Iranian naval operations in the Straits of Hormuz etc, are common currency in the Saudi-aligned parts of the Arab world and in the US. Theresa May’s words look too much like pandering to their obsessive confrontation with Iran.
Oliver Miles
Oxford
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