Muddying the waters: Why Trump's Gulf comments angered Iran

US President Donald Trump angered Iran ahead of his trip to Saudi Arabia when he hinted that the United States might begin referring to the Gulf as the Arabian Gulf instead of the Persian Gulf.

Iran and the Arab Gulf states have long contested the name of that shared body of water, while the US has traditionally referred to it as the Persian Gulf. While Trump appears to have dropped that plan, the Iranian backlash to his mere suggestion was another reminder of how sensitive this issue remains.

Citing two US officials under condition of anonymity, the Associated Press reported on 7 May that Trump planned to announce that the US would refer to the Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Arabia during his visit to Saudi Arabia.

The president told reporters he didn’t want to “hurt anybody’s feelings” when deciding which name he would choose.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi swiftly denounced Trump’s remarks, writing on social media that renaming the Gulf would be “a sign of hostile intent toward Iran and its people, and is firmly condemned”.

Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, where he remarked that “they wanted” to call it the “Gulf of Iran” without elaborating. CNN cited an unnamed source claiming that Trump’s plans regarding any renaming of the Gulf had shifted before his trip.

“President Trump is a master at fishing in troubled waters. This is sure to get under Iran’s skin,” Joshua Landis, director of the Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told The New Arab via email on Thursday.

“Trump’s renaming move is designed to inflame hard feelings and enmity between Arabs and Persians,” he said.

Arash Azizi, a visiting fellow at Boston University and author of ‘The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US, and Iran’s Global Ambitions’, doubted from the start that Trump had any solid renaming plan, viewing the initial AP leak as “suspiciously timed.”

“Trump himself said he hasn’t made a decision yet, and I believe him,” Azizi told TNA in a Thursday interview ahead of the president’s trip.

“It is indeed likely to inflame tensions and undermine the nuclear talks, but Iran can also cleverly find a way out. For instance, it can say: The US can call it whatever it wants; the true name remains the Persian Gulf,” he added. “It can put it down to theatrics.”

Iranians have long been highly sensitive to anybody or country referring to the Gulf as anything other than the Persian Gulf. When renowned American journalist Mike Wallace briefly mentioned the dispute over the name during an interview with the shah of Iran, the shah responded by sassily asking him, “Why do you call it Gulf? You have been to school, haven’t you?”

Azizi believes it would mark an “important break with tradition” if the US ever officially stopped using the term Persian Gulf.

“The US military has already been using the term Arabian Gulf for a while, owing to its close collaboration with the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries,” he said. “But on a political level, this would be an inflammatory move.”

Iran would likely seek some form of retaliation if the US ever does cease using the term Persian Gulf.

“One retaliation could be firming up its claims of sovereignty over the three islands disputed with the UAE,” Azizi said, referring to the Gulf islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

“It should be noted that this is an absolutely non-negotiable issue from the Iranian point of view,” Azizi added. “As far as Tehran and Iranians are concerned, the three islands are part of an Iranian territory as much as Shiraz or Tehran are. Tehran would never accept any negotiations over them.”

After the British withdrew from the Gulf in December 1971, Iran’s navy swiftly seized the islands, affirming sovereignty over them. It made the move a mere two days before the United Arab Emirates declared independence. The UAE has contested ownership of and sovereignty over the islands ever since.

Iran has made numerous statements and taken several steps to solidify its control and sovereignty over Abu Musa and the two Tunbs. For example, in 2023, it offered Iranian citizens free land for construction on Abu Musa to increase its small population. The following year, the governor of Abu Musa announced the lifting of restrictions on Iranians visiting the islands and an increase in the number of domestic flights there.

In a symbolic move, Tehran has also considered designating 1 December as a national day to mark the British withdrawal from the islands. In late 2024, Tehran cited charts from 1888 to prove its historical ownership, and the country’s interior minister described them as “eternally Iranian”.

Iran’s UN ambassador also reaffirmed Tehran’s “full and unquestionable sovereignty over the Iranian islands” in an April 2025 letter addressed to the President of the Security Council. On 30 April, Iran marked its Persian Gulf Day by honouring Abu Musa.

Militarily, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps paramilitary unveiled new missile systems on the three islands in March, warning they “are capable of attacking enemy bases, vessels, and assets” in the region. Several GCC countries host the US military in regional air and naval bases. The island kingdom of Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

At the same time, Iran’s diplomatic and political ties with the GCC countries have markedly improved in recent years, especially since China oversaw the 2023 rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, significantly decreasing regional tensions.

“Iranian authorities have been on a major charm campaign in the Gulf recently, particularly with the Saudis, whom Iranians know are important to US policy in the Gulf,” Landis said. “The Saudis can act as a brake on Israel’s push to bomb Iran.”

Azizi noted that while Iran “attaches a lot of importance” to Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, it also values these calm relations with the GCC countries.

“Of course, everything changes if there is a dramatic change in the situation, such as sustained US or Israeli attacks on Iranian territory,” Azizi said.

“That would change Tehran’s calculus, and everything comes back into play, including the stability of the Persian Gulf and that of the GCC countries.”

Paul Iddon is a freelance journalist based in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, who writes about Middle East affairs.

Follow him on Twitter: @pauliddon