CAIRO — The Gulf-British rapprochement has started to shape, after UK Prime Minister Theresa May attended the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Manama, Bahrain, on Dec. 6-7.

In her speech at the end of the summit, May stated that security risks have increased in the Arab region and Western countries alike. According to May, to combat terrorism, it is essential to “work together.” May also promised to support the Gulf states with all the help they need to confront what she described as threats from Iran.

Fear of Iranian interference is considered the greatest concern among Gulf countries, some of which have accused Iran of interfering with their affairs before. The dispute between the Gulf and Iran is related to a number of policies in the region, including the situation in Yemen and Syria. Tension prevails between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for instance, over Iran’s occupation of the Greater Tunb, the Lesser Tunb and the Abu Musa islands in the Persian Gulf; while the Islamic Republic condemned the execution in January of Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, threatening that the Riyadh government would pay a costly price for this action. Also, Saudi Arabia is concerned about the logistical support Iran provides to the Houthi group in Yemen, which threatens the kingdom’s national security, fearing the spread of Shiite thought.

Concerning what the British-Gulf rapprochement indicates and how it would affect Egypt, Mokhtar Ghobashi, the deputy head of the Arab Center for Strategic and Political Studies in Cairo, stated that such rapprochement comes at a time of unprecedented stressed Egyptian-Saudi and Egyptian-Qatari relations. Ghobashi considers Saudi Arabia and Qatar the GCC states with the most impact on the entire region. (The GCC countries include the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.)