Since I’m currently living in the Arabian/Persian gulf, I’m finding the current debate about whether the "gulf" is Arabian or Persian rather fascinating. For me, personally, it makes more sense to refer to it as the Arabian Gulf, although history reveals otherwise, as it has been called the Persian Gulf for thousands of years.
Apparently Iranians are irked by National Geographic‘s decision to include the term Arabian Gulf in their latest Atlas decision. I understand their sense of identity, but I think their reaction is a bit over-exaggerated! This Iranian blogger is encouraging what he calls “Google Bombing” to make sure the “Persian Gulf” tops the list of Google search results! Wow, what dedication.
Another blogger suggests Iran should team up with Israel in order to eliminate what he terms "the Arab dominance of the Middle East." That’s a novel point of view that I think will never happen in our lifetime.
A journalist working in Dubai told me that following the Iraq/Iran war, the term “Persian Gulf" was banned indefinitely across the UAE. This applies to textbooks, publications and newspapers among others. I’m not sure about the remaining Gulf countries, such as Qatar and Bahrain. Any insights?
Dear Mr.Muslimhater!
Study harder!
there’s about a billion and a half of us and we’re the fastest growing religion
so i kinda like our odds 😉
PRAISE PERSIANS AND THE PERSIAN CULTURE!GO YOUTH OF IRAN AND REVOLT AGAINST THE “MULLAHS” AND CAST OFF THE SLAVERY OF THE BACKWARDNESS OF THE FILTHY ISLAMIC RELIGION!BECOME WHAT YOU WERE BEFORE(ZOROASTRIANS)BAHAIS,CHRISTIANS,JEWS,BUDDISTS,HINDUS OR SIHKS.YOU ARE THE BEACON OF FREEDOM FOR THE MIDDLE EAST!THE ARAB DOGS WOULD SHIT IN THEIR PANTS TO ALL OF YOU ABANDON “PISSLAM”.I LOVE YOU AS A PEOPLE AND THAT IS WHY I AS AN AMERICAN STUDY FARSI BECAUSE I WANT TO BRING DOWN ISLAM AND ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO LEAVE THIS FILTHY EVIL CULT!
hmmm…. this would all be very interesting… if only someone actually gave a s***!
The problem the Persians have with Arab is that they invaded Parsa barbaricly; ‘cus of course, that’s how they are;
just google around and see how many Persian scientists and scholars they claim as Arabs; it’s hilarious;
it’s really time to settle this for once and for all; but that’s not gonna happen with such Arab-lovers rulingen in Iran;
and what’s even more ridicilous, is the fact that Arabs are also claimen Khuzestan; the land of Elam; the founders of the Iranian nation;
(and just for the record; Iran is the oldest country of the world);
not only is it needfull that the Persian Gulf keeps be called the Persian Gulf, but the Persian need to reign over it once again.. Son of Elam, our precious Parsa, hail Iran!
🙂
I don’t. It shows up in the “New Comments” section on the main page, Daruis.
Funny that your still reading this page after all these months. Arash
Haha… you gotta love the dedication!
Folks, note the date before commenting, this post is 6 months old.
The only name legally recognized by the UN and every country on earth (except UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait) is the Persian Gulf. This has been the name for the body of water to the south of Iran for the past 3000 years. This is still the most accurate name, as Persian people make up more of the population in the region than Arabs do. Iran has the longest coastline on the Persian Gulf (complete northern shore). The only place to have ever been called the Arab gulf is the red sea. The Arabs have the Arabian Sea and Iranians are NOT Arabs. This is a very unprofessional and offensive mistake on your site.
This is an official statement by the government of the UK, agreeing that the name of the region is the Persian Gulf.
http://persiangulfonline.org/abusers/acknowledgement.htm
It will alawyz be and alwayz remain “PERSIAN GULF” and if u think otherwise then pick up a history book and read about it !!!
Neutral observer, excellent point there, if only some people will learn to act like adults…
As one of the 90% of Arabs who don’t live anywhere near ‘the Gulf’ I don’t really care what its called in some magazine, it might as well be called the Armenian Gulf and i would be just as happy, unfortunatly it seems we’ve got some don quixotes here who prefer to conjour up imaginary battles, instead of focusing on our intertwined history and common enemies and goals, I mean just look at France and Germany in the EU, they don’t speak the same language, they spent a good part of the beggining of the century fighting each other to death, and when it was over, they didn’t spend their time bikerinign over the alsace-lorraine or anything like that, instead they joined into a union to make them stronger, when will we learn from that???