Trump to Designate Persian Gulf as Arabian Gulf

According to insider sources, during his upcoming Saudi Arabia visit, President Donald Trump is poised to formally nudge the U.S. towards adopting the terms 'Arabian Gulf' or 'Gulf of Arabia' instead of the longstanding 'Persian Gulf'.

The debate over this waterway's terminology has long simmered, with Arab nations advocating for a name change that Iran opposes, maintaining historical claims linked to its ancient empire.

White House representatives and the National Security Council opted not to comment, but the information comes from officials who spoke anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the topic.

The name 'Persian Gulf' has been in use since the 1500s, yet in contemporary Middle Eastern dialogue, 'Arabian Gulf' frequently surfaces. Iran has acted against cartographic neutrality in 2012 by threatening legal action against Google for its non-designation on maps.

In the U.S., Google Maps denotes it as 'Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)', while Apple Maps retains only 'Persian Gulf'. Historically, the U.S. military has also chosen 'Arabian Gulf' regularly in reports.

For Iranians, the waterway's title is a cultural touchstone harking back to the grandeur of the Persian Empire. This issue flared up during Trump’s presidency, eliciting a sharp response from Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who criticized Trump's linguistic preferences online.

The International Hydrographic Organization, tasked with standardizing nautical nomenclature, recognizes that regions might adopt disparate names for shared waterscapes.

During Trump's diplomatic excursion, he will also stop in Doha and Abu Dhabi, aligning with regions sharing coastal ties to the contentious Gulf and where his administration has sought bolstered alliances to manage conflicts like the Israel-Hamas tensions.

Notably, President Trump maintains financial investments within these Gulf nations, which are overseen even as he remains in office.