The 'Gulf' dividing Islam

Guardian:

For millennia Iran has guarded the ­strategic waterway dividing it from its Arab neighbours as a symbol of national greatness that should be defended in name and deed.

But now its insistence that it be known only as the Persian Gulf threatens to torpedo ambitious plans for a sporting extravaganza intended to promote Islamic harmony.

Iran announced it was cancelling the Islamic Solidarity Games planned for October rather than bow to Arab demands that the Persian tag be dropped from the competition's medals and promotional material. Arab nations, led by Saudi Arabia, refused to compete unless the waterway was called the Arabian Gulf or simply the Gulf.

The condition was too much for Iranian officials, who said they were abandoning the games after only 28 nations agreed to take part — compared with 55 who participated in the 2005 event in Saudi Arabia.

"We must insist on our correct stance even if it leads to the cancellation of the games," Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told a conference marking national Persian Gulf day last week.

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I think "The Gulf" was a good compromise, but Iranians are not known for their art of compromise these days. Just look at their endless and fruitless negotiation over their nuclear program. I call it both names at this blog usually depending on the subject matter and the countries discussed in the post. There is historical president for both.