According to CNN, President Donald Trump is planning for the US to start calling the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia. According to authorities, the anticipated announcement is connected to his next Middle East tour, which will include stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. They went on to say that discussions on the move are still going on and that the president’s announcement date is still unknown.
Trump said he would “have to make a decision” on his trip to the Middle East next week when he was questioned about the name change at an Oval Office event on Wednesday.
“When I get there, they’ll question me about it, and I’ll have to decide,” Trump stated. “I want to avoid offending anyone. I’m not sure if sentiments will be offended.
Trump went on to say that he is “going to be given a briefing” about the plans to rename the gulf and that he will then decide what to do.
The Persian Gulf, a body of water off the southern coast of Iran, has long been the target of Arab nations’ calls to change its name to better represent their nations. Trump’s remarks, however, seem to recognize that the Iranians, who have long advocated for the body of water off their nation’s southern coast to be known as the Persian Gulf, will fiercely object to such a shift.
Such a move would “bring the wrath of all Iranians from all walks of life and political persuasion in Iran, the U.S. and across the world,” the Iranian foreign minister cautioned on Wednesday.
“I am confident that 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 1960’s,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, condemning what he called “politically motivated attempts to alter the historically established name of the Persian Gulf.”
Iran and the Trump administration are now negotiating a possible nuclear agreement.
Trump’s ambitions to change his name were originally reported by the Associated Press. The Gulf of Mexico, which Google Maps now displays for its US-based users as “the Gulf of America,” was renamed by Trump earlier this year through an administrative decree.
Attempts by House Republicans to formalize that name change are encountering opposition from certain members of their own party. A disagreement with The AP that resulted in legal intervention was also sparked by the White House’s rebranding. While embracing the new “Gulf of America” moniker, the Associated Press, a worldwide news organization, stated that it will continue to use the “Gulf of Mexico” in its news coverage and influential stylebook.
