Trump says he’ll decide on name of ‘Persian Gulf’ on ME visit

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will make a decision about how the US government will refer to the body of water now commonly known as the Persian Gulf when he visits Arab states next week.
Trump told reporters at the White House that he expects his hosts in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will ask him about the US officially calling the waterway the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Arabia.
“They’re going to ask me about that when I get there, and I’ll have to make a decision,” Trump said. “I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings,” report AP/UNB.
Two officials familiar with the matter said Trump would announce the change while he was on the trip. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
That report generated a storm of outcry from Iranians of all political persuasions who said the Persian Gulf moniker was thousands of years old and an essential part of Iran’s cultural and geographical history.
“I have a case right over here. It’s called Gulf of America,” Trump said Wednesday in the Oval Office. “And I guess a lot of people get ideas from us.”
Arab nations have long pushed for a change to the geographic name of the body of water off the southern coast of Iran, while Iran has maintained its historic ties to the gulf.
Iranians both supportive and opposed to Iran’s current government denounced any change.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has been involved in three rounds of nuclear negotiations with Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, said the change would indicate “hostile intent” toward Iran.
“Politically motivated attempts to alter the historically established name of the Persian Gulf are indicative of hostile intent toward Iran and its people, and are firmly condemned,” he wrote on the social platform X.
“Any short-sighted step in this connection will have no validity or legal or geographical effect, it will only bring the wrath of all Iranians from all walks of life and political persuasion in Iran, the U.S. and across the world.”