Trump’s use of Arabian Gulf provokes Rouhani

During US President Donald Trump’s new Iran strategy speech on Friday, he referred for the first time to the ‘Arabian Gulf’ and not the ‘Persian Gulf’ as the US administration has been accustomed to in the past.

“The Iranian regime is hindering navigation in the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea, and Iranian missiles are threatening US allies in the region,” Trump said.

President Trump’s use of Arabian Gulf instead of Persian provoked the Iranian regime to such an extent that the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, issued a response to the US president.

“We should also study geography to find out how a president has not yet learned the name of the famous, historical and global Gulf: the Persian Gulf, which, unfortunately, the American warships are constantly coming and going,” President Rouhani said in his official response. “He should have at least asked his military advisors how they write the name of this Gulf in their maps. Therefore, they need to study geography more”.

Iran has been very sensitive to the use of Arabian Gulf, insisting on the use of Persian Gulf only. Recently the United Nations have adopted the use of Arabian Gulf in its Arabic language internal communications.