Fake names can’t tarnish Persian Gulf’s historic identity
By Jahanbakhsh Izadi
International relations expert
According to unnamed US officials, President Donald Trump plans to announce during his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia that the United States will henceforth refer to the Persian Gulf by the fabricated name “Arabian Gulf.”
Such a provocative move is nothing short of an attempt to rewrite history and twist historical facts. In fact, Trump’s gesture is aimed at handing out token favors to Saudi Arabia and certain Arab states; among these symbolic concessions is the rebranding of the Persian Gulf—a step seemingly designed to butter up his hosts. Some Arab countries have long been pushing for this name change. Nor is this the first time Americans have adopted the term “Arabian Gulf”. US strategic circles have been throwing around this false label for quite some time. But this time, they have come right out with it, making the announcement deliberately as a diplomatic overture ahead of Trump’s visit to Riyadh. In my view, such moves will not succeed in pushing through a renaming of the Persian Gulf, nor will they lead to the catching on of the term “Arabian Gulf.”
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