WASHINGTON – Next week, during President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, he intends to declare a change in the way the U.S. refers to the Persian Gulf, to now call it the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, as reported by two U.S. officials to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Arab countries have advocated for renaming the stretch of water south of Iran, while Iran continues to assert its historical connection to the gulf.
The U.S. officials, requesting anonymity to address delicate issues, explained this shift. The White House and National Security Council did not promptly reply to inquiries for comments.
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.”
“Everyone knew Trump’s friendship was for sale to the highest bidder. We now know that his geography is, too,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote online at the time.
Trump can change the name for official U.S. purposes, but he can’t dictate what the rest of the world calls it.
The International Hydrographic Organization — of which the United States is a member — works to ensure all the world’s seas, oceans and navigable waters are surveyed and charted uniformly, and also names some of them. There are instances where countries refer to the same body of water or landmark by different names in their own documentation.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, Trump is also set to visit Doha, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which also lie on the body of water. Originally planned as Trump’s first trip overseas since he took office on Jan. 20, it comes as Trump has tried to draw closer to the Gulf countries as he seeks their financial investment in the U.S. and support in regional conflicts, including resolving the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and limiting Iran’s advancing nuclear program.
The U.S. president also has significant financial ties to the countries through his personal businesses, over which he has retained ownership from the Oval Office.
The move comes several months after Trump said the U.S. would refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
The Associated Press sued the Trump administration earlier this year after the White House barred its journalists from covering most events because of the organization’s decision not to follow the president’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” within the United States.
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump, ruled last month that the First Amendment protects the AP from government retaliation over its word choice and ordered the outlet’s access to be reinstated.
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AP writers Zeke Miller in Washington, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Meg Kinnard in Chapin, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
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