The Persian Gulf is located in Western Asia, between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. The name “Persian gulf” has been used for centuries and derived from the ancient Persian (Iranian) empire, which had strong standing dominance in the region. Greek historians like Herodotus and ancient maps referred to it as the Persian Gulf due to Persia cultural, political and military influence along it shores. United Nations uses the term Persian Gulf. A 2006 paper by UN. A working group found the agreement in the historical documents on the term, which it said was coined by the Persian king Darioush in the fifth century B.C. Iranian nationalistic sentiments are strongly linked to the name Persian Gulf because it considered as symbol of Iran’s historical legacy, cultural influence and territorial pride. For Iran it’s not just a name: its reflect their thousands of year of Persian civilization and dominance in the region. As many of the efforts are made by the Arab states to rename it as Arabian gulf which are seen in Iran as the attempts to erase Persian identity and its history, which led to the intense nationalistic feelings and led to strong political and public reactions by defending their traditional name.
From the time period of (1950-1960) when the rise of Arab nationalism is at its peak level: under the influence of pan-Arabism which is led by Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser the Arab countries start promoting the term “Arabian gulf” that’s the part of a broader push for Arab unity and identity. The dispute became political, especially after Britain with drawl from the Persian Gulf region in late 1960s and at same time the different Arab Gulf States got independence like UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. The name Arabian Gulf starts using in official documents and Arab league publications which got strong objections from Iran. Then this issue is again intensified during the Iran-Iraq war (1980_1988) as Iraq and other Arab states opposed Iran and start increasingly used Arabian Gulf. Iran has consistently protested against the usage of this name by media, international organizations, and countries. In 2010, Iran banned the airlines from using its airspace and a condition is set that if they want to use then use Persian Gulf rather than Arabian Gulf and also threaten down tosue Google in 2012 against the entities using the name Arabian Gulf. The UN and most international bodies still officially recognize the name Persian Gulf. Later on Arabs step back from their opinions but the naming dispute remains a sensitive issue, reflecting broader tensions in the Middle East. Recent events such as US president Donald Trump has a tour to middle east countries i.e. UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar in May 2025 who views Iran as a destabilizing force in the region and he gave a suggestion for the name changing of Persian gulf as Arabian gulf.
On 7th may trump remarked that “I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings” which basically indicates that he had not yet made a final decision on the matter and would consider it during his visit to the region. This proposal aligns with the preferences of several Arab Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia, UAE. Conversely Iran opposes this change as its name linked with their historical and cultural heritage. Iranian officials including foreign minister Abbas Araghchi condemned trumps statement; he said that the name "Persian Gulf" is historically and internationally recognized, and any politically driven attempts to rename it are seen as hostile acts against Iran. Such actions are condemned by Iranians worldwide and hold no legal or geographical legitimacy. Trumps use of the term Arabian Gulf was not just a semantic choice but a politically charged statement. Trumps Middle East policy toward these Sunni Arab states and Israel was considered as maximum pressure campaign against Iran.
Trump decision in 2015 to withdraw the US from JCPOA and impose harsh sanctions reflected a greater strategy of isolation of Tehran economically and diplomatically. Trump aimed to strengthen alliances with Arab monarchies and project a united front against Iran. His moves are consistent with his provocative and transactional style of diplomacy; he uses languages and actions that align with the allies while antagonizing the adversaries. In context of current US Iran nuclear negotiations, such past controversies continue to influence the diplomatic environment. Iran is distrustful of U.S. motives, particularly following the United States' unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA by President Trump. His rhetoric and symbolic actions, including renaming, served to further weaken trust and make the subsequent efforts of later U.S. administrations to reopen negotiations and restart the nuclear accord more difficult. The Trump Middle East policy legacy thus continues to haunt U.S.-Iran relations to this day, and symbolic acts such as renaming the Persian Gulf remind us of the region's long historical and geopolitical fault lines. The timing of Trump's revelation is particularly sensitive, as it comes at the time of new efforts at negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran.
In March 2025, Trump penned a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei requesting negotiations to curb Iran's nuclear drive. While Trump had spoken of a peaceful approach instead of war, he also warned of terrible repercussions if Iran did not comply. Iran's response came swiftly and was dismissive. Supreme Leader Khamenei rejected the US offer, presenting it as the quintessential case of an offer of dominance as opposed to the negotiation of terms. He emphasized that Iran would not fall prey to pressures against its sovereignty. In spite of all these challenges, diplomatic engagement continues. America and Iran started indirect negotiations in April 2025, using intermediaries, to negotiate on the nuclear program of Iran. But the way to a grand bargain continues to be perilous, with obstacles like deep-seated distrust and cross purposes. The name changing dispute has directly impacts on the nuclear negotiations such as The US-Iranian nuclear negotiations, running since April 2025, have been marred by a chain of setbacks. While the first round of negotiations in Oman was described as constructive, the rest were marred by hiccups. For instance, a meeting set in Rome was postponed following the tensions between the American sanctions and Iran's test firings of ballistic missiles.
Iran's latest test firing of a new ballistic missile and threats against US military bases also cast doubts on the stability of the negotiations. Along with the direct impacts on the nuclear talks it’s also led towards the creation regional dynamics and the controversy has had political ramifications in the region as well. Saudi Arabia, which has long worried about Iran's nuclear ambitions, has been eager to play the role of mediator between Iran and the U.S. Iran's deep distrust of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, however, prevents this from taking place. Saudi Arabia prefers to conduct the mediation on the basis of its amity with Trump, but Iran distrusts any mediation that could be perceived as being partial. Overall, the proposed redesignation of the Persian Gulf added new complexity to U.S.–Iran nuclear negotiations. Though there are economic and strategic interests in Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar to have an impact on the diplomatic equation, ultimately the most important issues involving uranium enrichment, sanctions, and regional security concerns will be most salient at the negotiating table. To advance, attempts will need to proceed very cautiously through both symbol-ridden posturing and actual policy deliberation in the process of crafting a broad-based agreement.
For a number of strategic motives, Donald Trump or any politician can trigger the Persian Gulf nomenclature controversy at sensitive moments such as nuclear negotiations. The main reason for the political signaling to Gulf allies such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is the use of the term "Arabian Gulf" which they prefer. Trump, therefore, reveals his allegiance to these countries as a method of countering the rising threat of Iran. This move is also a way of innocently knocking down Iranian diplomacy. Talks may fail and the situation may become ugly as a result of the negative implications created by a mere disagreement over the name of a water body that is so historically and culturally important. At the same time, short-term scandals help Trump maintain domestic support he needs by cleverly taking the attention from sticky problems and at the same time, appearing as a determined person towards Iran.
The President is smart enough to realize that controversy is good for media ratings, so, he shrewdly plays the protagonist in bringing up contentious issues to ensure more newspaper front pages. Ultimately, the quarrel over the name is more than just a geographical matter, shifting the emphasis to one's power, identity, and influence. In so doing, without formally opposing the negotiations, a statesman can get reinforcement from the alliances, fan the flames of the nationalists, and prevent the progress of diplomacy by inducing a rejection. Without a doubt, the recent call from Trump to rename the Persian Gulf is no longer an issue of words; it signifies bigger geopolitics confrontations. This outburst demonstrates how fine was the line in U.S.-Iran relations and the weight of handling purely diplomatic moves when other states were in raging competition with each other and sensitivity concerning history was obviously seen. To achieve some objectives by renaming Persian Gulf, Trump mainly took the following steps. To begin with, U.S. relations with Gulf Arab states were hoped to be reinforced through the policy move and hence the indirect change of the name of the Persian Gulf to the "Arabian Gulf."
Secondly, Trump had been anti-Iran and also wanted to oblige his strategy with the cultural aspect through the name change of the Persian Gulf and other similar steps. Cutting off Iranian influence, both politically and, if possible, culturally, was the main idea. Through this strategy, the United States promoted Arab views and hence helped Sunni states against Iran. Trump's backing for amending the name of the Persian Gulf to the 'Arabian Gulf' while he toured the Middle East is indeed a deeper bond with Gulf Arab countries in the midst of the tense U.S.-Iran relations. These small gestures, however, can surprisingly be the cause of further escalating regional tensions and, moreover, can be the cause of a decade of historical and geopolitical norms to unravel if there is no channel of diplomacy with Tehran. The... you know... game of naming may sound exciting, particularly to media folks, but at a time when you have to be very careful about diplomacy, don't expect it to do any good in peace.
