Iran’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran to voice strong protest over a distortion of the name of the universally-recognized Persian Gulf at a biennial football competition currently underway in the Arab country’s southern port city of Basra.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a statement on Wednesday that the Iraqi diplomat was called in and reminded about the great sensitivity of the Iran nation to the use of the misnomer instead of the historically authentic name of the body of water lapping Iran's southern shores.
“Even though we enjoy strategic, fraternal and deep relations with Iraq, we have vehemently expressed our objection to the matter, summoned Iraqi ambassador to the Foreign Ministry, and the sensitivity of the great Iranian nation to the use of the precise word was communicated to the Iraqi side,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
The top Iranian diplomat said Tehran’s protest has been explicitly conveyed to Iraqi officials, and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani corrected the misnomer in a post recently published online.
Spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry Nasser Kan’ani said on Monday that Tehran has expressed its objection to Baghdad over using the fake misnomer of “Arabian Gulf” to refer to the Persian Gulf.
The Iraqi southern city of Basra is hosting the return matches of a local competition, and Iraq set up billboards to welcome the foreign teams to the “25th Arabian Gulf Cup.”
Several international scientific conferences have been held in recent years to discuss the historical roots of the Persian Gulf.
Researchers from the most reputable academic centers worldwide are almost unanimous in their opinions that the body of water has been referred to as the Persian Gulf throughout history.
Some regional countries and Western publications, however, continue to distort historical facts by omitting “Persian” from the full name or using a misnomer.
