Iran rails against Trump’s reported plan to rename Persian Gulf
Iranian officials furiously reacted to a report that US President Donald Trump plans to rename the Persian Gulf during his visit to Saudi Arabia next week.
“Let’s hope that the absurd rumors about the PERSIAN Gulf that are going around are no more than a disinformation campaign by ‘forever warriors’ to anger Iranians all over the world and agitate them,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X Wednesday.
The warning came after The Associated Press, citing unnamed US officials, said Trump plans to announce in Saudi Arabia that the United States would now refer to the Persian Gulf as the A-r-a-b-i-a-n Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia.
“The president is expected to unveil what he calls a ‘historic reorientation’ of US nomenclature to better reflect regional alliances,” one of the officials said.
While Trump can direct US federal agencies to use a different name, he cannot enforce the change globally. Congressional legislation would be required to make the shift permanent in US law, and a future administration could easily reverse it.
It also follows a controversial decision earlier this year to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” in US government usage — a move that led to a legal battle with the Associated Press.
“I am confident that Donald Trump is aware that the name PERSIAN Gulf is centuries old and recognized by all cartographers and international bodies and was even used by all leaders of the region in their official communications until as recently as the 1960’s,” Araghchi said.
“While any short-sighted step in this connection will have no validity or legal or geographical effect, it will only bring the wrath of all Iranians from all walks of life and political persuasion in Iran, the US and across the world,” he added.
“Iran has never objected to the use of names such as the Sea of Oman, Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, or Red Sea. The use of these names does not imply ownership by any particular nation, but rather reflects a shared respect for the collective heritage of humanity,” he said.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf also reacted to the news, saying, “Maybe shoes and clothes can be bought with dollars and dirhams, but history and geography cannot be bought.”
Former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned against any attempt to rename the Persian Gulf, saying that such a fabrication would infuriate “every patriotic Iranian.”
Zarif wrote on his X account that Iranians will show the world and the residents of the White House that Iranians will not tolerate “this short-sighted adventurism.”