Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May smiles as she meets the King of Bahrain King Hamad Bin Isa Khalifa in Manama, Bahrain, December 7, 2016. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran summoned the British ambassador on Saturday to protest against remarks by Prime Minister Theresa May who accused Tehran of “aggressive regional actions” in a speech to a Gulf Arab summit.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said the move was prompted by May’s “irresponsible, provocative and divisive remarks” at the summit in Bahrain on Wednesday, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

May told the Gulf Arab leaders that “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”.

Iran and most Gulf states are on opposite sides in Middle East conflicts, with the Iran an ally of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war and of the armed Houthi movement fighting a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen.

Britain and Iran exchanged ambassadors in September, more than a year after Britain reopened its Tehran embassy, which was closed for nearly four years after it was stormed by protesters.