President Trump has come to mind changing the name of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf ahead of his trip to the Middle East next week. This is a move that infuriated Iran and its people.
“I have to make a decision,” Trump said Wednesday in his oval office. “I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I don’t know if their feelings will hurt.”
last week, Reported by the Associated Press Trump had planned to announce the name change on his tours of several Arab countries that have been sought for change over the years.
Turquoise water has been known as the Persian Gulf since 550 BC. Ancient Persia is now modern Iran, with the entire south coast spreading along the Persian Gulf.
The Iranian government dates back to the pre-Shah Revolutionary era, stubbornly defending the Persian Gulf as its only legitimate name. As such, Iranians both domestically and internationally see the name as a core part of their national and cultural identity.
By proposing a name change, Trump appears to be doing something impossible at first glance. They spoke in statements and social media posts, denounced Trump’s thoughts.
Can Trump really change the name of the Bay?
Trump has the authority to order changes to geographic names used in the United States. However, other countries do not need to respect these changes.
This year, he issued an executive order to update the government’s geographic name information system to change all references to the Gulf of Mexico to the US Gulf. (President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that the Mexican government sued Google over its decision to comply with Trump’s orders.)
US Commission on Geographical Names Currently, the use of the Persian Gulf is mandatory for official US operations.
Globally, international waterway organizations work to standardize and represent marine boundaries. However, the organization told the New York Times this year that “there is no formal international agreements or protocols to name the maritime region.”
How did the Iranians react?
Trump’s ideas have drawn criticism from a wider cross section of Iranians, often divided into many topics.
“It goes beyond politics. It goes beyond religious divisions and ideology. It’s about the country and its history, it bumps into chords,” said historian Tulaj Dalier, director of the Center for Persian Studies at the University of California Irvine University. “Does Trump want to negotiate with Iran, or does he want to take away that national identity?”
Darya said that since ancient times, Iranians have called their country “ab o khakh.”” This means “water and the earth.” The two waters of the Persian Gulf in the south and the Caspian Sea in the north are deeply intertwined with the Iranian spirit as symbols of national character.
Tehran’s well-known analyst Ahmad Zeidabadi; Posted on x“Because of Trump’s hopes and whims, the Gulf of Mexico will not become the US Gulf, Canada will not join the US, Greenland will not become US property, and the Persian Gulf will not take fake names.”
Iran’s national soccer team weighed it on the Persian Gulf map and trending hashtag #foreverpersianangulf. Its official Instagram page.
Even Iranian opposition expressed their dissatisfaction.
Reza Palavi, son of Iran’s abdicated Shah, who supported Trump and encouraged him to abandon diplomacy with Tehran’s government. I said it on social media“The decision that President Trump will distort history, if true, is a shame for the people of Iran and our great civilization.” ”
What is the history of the Persian Gulf?
The name of the Persian Gulf has been used throughout history in maps, documents and diplomacy, from the ancient Persian period, when the empire ruled the region, to the Greeks and the British.
During the pan-Arab nationalist movement of the late 1950s, the push, which called it the Arabian Gulf, gathered steam.
The United Nations uses the term Persian Gulf. a 2006 UN Working Group Paper Unanimous was found in historical documents on the term, said to have been coined by the Persian King Darihus in the 5th century BC.
Does this affect nuclear talks between Iran and the US?
Iran and the US will hold three Oman-mediated negotiations on Iran’s advanced nuclear programme, and will meet again on Sunday.
The US wants to prevent Iran from weaponizing its nuclear program, and Iran wants to remove sanctions that hinder its economy.
Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former senior Iranian diplomat and member of the country’s nuclear negotiation team in 2015, said that if Trump renamed the Persian Gulf it would damage negotiations.
“It just creates distrust and burns the Iranian hardliner that you say you can’t trust America,” Musabian said in an interview.
