Arabian Gulf, My Foot

By Paul Iddon

The term 'Arabian Gulf' is a superficial and historically devoid name for the body of water that has been for millennia unequivocally accepted as the 'Persian Gulf'.

The Persian Gulf from space.

 “Why you call it Gulf, you've been to school haven't you?” the last Shah of Iran asked the late interviewer Mike Wallace when Wallace simply referred to the Persian Gulf as 'the Gulf'. The late Shah quickly followed up by asking Mr. Wallace what the name he learned in school was, Wallace quickly confirmed the obvious, that it was of course the Persian Gulf. The name of the body of water has deep historical relevance and was accordingly for that reason referred to as the Persian Gulf by the peoples of the world. Even the Arabs -- until the rise of pan-Arabism in the 1960's -- referred to the gulf by its historically relevant and rightful name.

Today with tensions rising between the Islamic Republic and the Arab Gulf states the name is being hotly contested. The current Iranian regime isn't necessarily a very credible representative and protector of the Persian identity (if the coinage of the name “Islamic Gulf” – which is said to be one of the alternative names proposed for the Persian Gulf – did in fact originate from Khomeini's regime then that essentially proves that point) that is deeply rooted in ancient history which predates Islam itself.

The National Persian Gulf day in Iran commemorates the expulsion of the Portuguese from the island of Bahrain by Shah Abbas, which saw the town of Bandar Abbas which he named after himself become a highly significant trade post for the empires of the day. This was about 40 years after that begun a lengthy period in which the British Empire controlled many of the Arab Gulf states, states which didn't become independent until 1971, after about two centuries. The United Arab Emirates is a state derived from the older Trucial Coast State -- other Arab Gulf states like Kuwait were also only formed as independent political entities following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the decline of British political influence and control within the region.  

This doesn't necessarily disqualify them from having a say in the dispute, which they started. But it does show the underlying superficiality to their claim that Arabian Gulf should be the rightful name of the Gulf. To put it mildly, history isn't on their side.

Whilst the present Iranian regime has taken a lot of measures such as the prevention of civil airliners who don't refer to the Gulf as the 'Persian Gulf' from entering Iranian airspace real heartfelt grievances are felt by a very wide and broad spectrum in Iranian society, as was saliently demonstrated by the recent anger over Google Maps not labeling the Gulf at all. Google's stated reason for not doing so was because it didn't want to get involved in the ever more growing and increasingly more heated dispute between Iran and the Arabs.

The Arab Gulf Emirate Kingdoms and Sheikdoms have since the early 1970's grown to be economic as well as political powers in the region (say what he did about his policy of separating oil from politics we've learned since retrospectively looking at the Shah's reign that the two are to a very large extent inseparable). This development coupled with economic sanctions being leveled against Iran for over 30 years now has seen a large decline in trade between Iran and the west and have made Arab nationalists more aggressive in their marginalization of Iran in its own neighbourhood.

And on the topic of marginalization just look at the sordid exploits of the Bahraini ruling oligarchy which they have levelled against the majority of the Bahraini people – the Shia – whom have been economically marginalized, on sectarian grounds, and are directly and brutally suppressed and prevented from organizing and participating in peaceful demonstrations.

This dispute in a broader sense represents the continued plight of the Iranian people whose heritage has seen both domestic and foreign elements attempting to undermine the national traditions which are derived from Ancient Persian civilization. Granted, Persians in Iran are a very narrow majority and there are indeed some fringe elements in this debate who harbour deep chauvinistic and bigoted attitudes and undertones towards the Arabs. Nevertheless, Persian culture has and will always have a profound cultural influence and will continue to define a large part of the identity of the Iranian nation and her inhabitants as a whole.

If the current US administration stated stance and its rhetoric regarding its declaration of support for the democratic and secular movements in Iran is to be believed it must reflect a clear understanding of that basic elementary fact and in doing so salute and commend the various Iranian nationalists and patriots in their struggle against opportunist obscurantists both foreign and domestic. They also shouldn't be expected to exhibit the slightest degree of compunction in confronting these said malevolent entities as by doing so they are defending a fundamental part of their national identity.