President Donald Trump plans to announce while on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the U.S. will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Arab nations have pushed for a change to the geographic name of the body of water off the southern coast of Iran, while Iran has maintained its historic ties to the gulf.
The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf of Arabia” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran — formerly Persia — threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps.
On Google Maps in the U.S., the body of water appears as Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf). Apple Maps only says the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. military for years has unilaterally referred to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf in statements and images it releases.
The name of the body of water has become an emotive issue for Iranians who embrace their country’s long history as the Persian Empire. A spat developed in 2017 during Trump’s first term when he used the name Arabian Gulf for the waterway. Iran’s president at the time, Hassan Rouhani, suggested Trump needed to “study geography.”
Posted by John3262005
6 Comments
Bets on what horrible news is going to be revealed in the next few days with this as a distraction?
I mean this has been a thing forever so I don’t think it quite hits like the bizarre Gulf of America thing
Edit: Based on this article, it does predate Trump on the military (but maybe not political) side:
> The U.S. military for years has unilaterally referred to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf in statements and images it releases
Screw that. Gulf of Basrah ftw.
What is Trump’s obsession with the name of Gulfs ?
Some Iranian nationalists/monarchists were pro-Trump because they perceived him to be tough on the regime. Him first trying to make a deal and now even renaming the Persian Gulf is quite hilarious in that regard. These people are the Iranian equivalent of Iowa farmers and Latino Trump voters.
Why does it even matter? There are so many exonyms and endonyms around the globe where people hardly care at all, but somehow it matters what an egomaniac thinks he should call a few specific places?
Please Italians it’s called Bayern München, not Monaco and also not Munich! It’s called Deutschland! And yes there is no Baltic Sea, it’s called Ostsee!