Iranians protest Gulf being named Arabian

NAMING DISPUTE: Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbours are at odds over the name of the Gulf waterway between them. (Google Maps)

Dozens of Iranians rallied outside the UAE embassy on Tuesday to press Tehran's demand for a waterway crucial to the world economy to be called the Persian, and not the Arabian, Gulf.

The name of the key oil shipping route is a bone of contention between Shi'ite Muslim Iran and its predominantly Sunni Arab neighbours.

Iran and the UAE are also embroiled in a territorial dispute over the sovereignty of three islands in the waterway.

RELATED: UAE demands Iran hand over disputed islands

Iran insists on calling the water along its southern coast the Persian Gulf. The body of water also touches Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, and many people in these states refer to the waters as the Arabian Gulf.

Up to 200 people demonstrated at the UAE embassy to mark Iran's annual National Persian Gulf Day, newswire Reuters witnesses said.

"Always Persian Gulf," one banner said.

"Children of Iran are looking toward Bahrain," read another.

A hardline Iranian newspaper last year triggered protests in Sunni-ruled Bahrain, which has a majority Shi'ite population, by saying it belonged to non-Arab Iran. The two countries later moved to defuse a potential diplomatic row.

In 2004, Iran banned National Geographic magazine when it included the Arabian Gulf name in parentheses on a map. The magazine later changed the labelling, a move Iranian officials described as "a victory for all Iranians".

Some news organisations use the Gulf as a compromise term, but the Islamic Republic banned distribution of the Economist magazine two years ago after it published an article and a map that referred to the Gulf instead of the Persian Gulf. (Reuters)

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READERS' COMMENTS

Historically and Legally it is Persian Gulf.
Posted by Soroosh, Tehran, Iran on Tuesday 13 May 2008 at 11:10 UAE time


Dear All,

The reference to the invented term "Arabian Gulf" is historically and legally incorrect. The correct designation for the body of water is the Persian Gulf. The Arabian Gulf is the ancient designation of the present-day Red Sea!!
http://blog.gradedirectory.com/red-sea-gulf-of.html

The term "Arabian Gulf" is as arbirary and invalid as re-naming the English Channel as the "French Channel", the Indian Ocean as "the Pakistan Ocean", or the Thames River of London as the "Celtic River". Think of the social, political, economic and historical chaos that would ensue from unwarranted actions, or should I say "arbitrary labeling"?

Iranians certainly do not refer to the Arabian Sea as "The Persian Sea". This is as historically and legally invalid as using "Arabian Gulf" to refer to the Persian Gulf.

In Legal terms, the United Nations has twice recognized the legality of the term "Persian Gulf" (UNAD 311/March 5, 1971 and UNLA 45.8.2 © on August 10, 1984). It is significant that all Arab countries have signed the UN documents. For further information consult the following links:
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/mideastr.pdf
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/westasia.pdf
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/iran.pdf
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/maplib/docs/escwa.pdf

Note that U.S. Department of State also refers to the correct legal and historically valid term Persian Gulf. For reference please visit:
http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/c2422.htm

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/c19354.htm


Arab scholars up to the 1960s have also referred to the body of water as per its correct name "Kahleej-ol-Faris" (Persian Gulf) (see George Hourani's "Arab Seafaring: In the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Medieval Times", Princeton University Press, 1995). For further information you may consult:
http://www.persiangulfonline .org/maps.htm

As noted above, the "Arabian Gulf" actually referred to the present-day Red Sea in antiquity (see Herodotus). The invention of "Arabian Gulf" with respect to its historically incorrect reference to the Persian Gulf was initiated by Sir Charles Belgrave (advisor to the Emir of Bahrain in 1926) who made the formal proposal to change the name of Persian Gulf in 1937 - the initiative was rejected by the British government at the time. For a popular reference regarding Sir Belgrave's activities, see TIME Magazine's August 27, 1956 entitled "The Uncontrollable Genie). Sir Belgrave's failure did not restrain Mr. Roderic Owen (an employee of British Petroleum in the 1950s) from reviving the project of name change for the Persian Gulf. The term "Arabian Gulf" is a geopolitical invention devoid of historical context or meaning; it is also illegal (see aforementioned UN actions).



Best Regards
Soroosh Ghaderi

Why Iran always causing troubles
Posted by A on Saturday 10 May 2008 at 00:37 UAE time


whether it is Arabian or Iranian, what does this change?
it is enough troubles from Iran, they should accept and respect their 7 neighborers!
Did any body from Arab protest just because Iran said it is Persian Gulf, of course No.

Truth is truth
Posted by From Planet Earth on Sunday 4 May 2008 at 13:16 UAE time

It's so unfair and unprofessional to call Persian Gulf, Arabian Gulf. If you are educated, and if you believe there are certain internationally recognized and agreed documents, then all of them will show you Persian Gulf has been the only name for this area.

May be powerful and rich countries wanted to change Iran's history and existence!

No matter which nation you are which magazine you write for the Persian Gulf historically has been, is and will be the Persian Gulf. Using Arabian as the name will only reveal a lack of knowledge.

You cannot change history by money and power.

Arabian or Persian Gulf that is the Question
Posted by C.Osborne, London, UK on Saturday 3 May 2008 at 16:11 UAE time

I was once called to the Iranian Embassy in Canberra to answer why I had referred to `this waterway` as the Arabian Gulf in an article I had written for Australian magazine.

It's a sensitive situation but as` The Gulf` is shared by Iran on one side and by five GCC states on the other I know solve the problem by calling it the Persian Gulf if writing about `the waterway` when in Iran and the `Arabian Gulf` if working and writing about the Arab States.

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