Persian Gulf, Victim of Middle East Politics
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 4:28AM 
Ahmadinejad participating in a conference held by Arab states in 2007.
The sudden sensitivity for the naming of persian gulf is very different from Iranian government's former position on issue in the past few years. In fact, one of the many criticisms that Ahmadinejad faced during the Iranian disputed presidential election was the government's lack of sensitivity for the use of the name Persian Gulf in negotiating with certain neighboring Arab countries. In fact, the above picture was one of the most popular pictures several months ago amongst Iranians which showed Ahmadinejad participating in a conference held by Arab states while the Arabic writing on the wall refers to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf. This was a great concern for the Iranians.
The waterway separating Iranian plateau and the Arabian peninsula is historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf with a history of naming dating back to 550 BC while the naming dispute of whether it should be called the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf dates back to the 60's.
Ever since, the naming dispute has always been a subject of tension between Iran and some the Arab nations in the region. In 1974, Mike Wallace touches on this subject in a subtle way in an interview with the former Shah of Iran to highlight the tension that existed between Iran and Saudi Arabia at the time.
Similar to the nuclear issue, this also seems another of Ahmadinejad's attempt to legitimize his presidency in the eyes of the Iranians by grasping to nationalistic sentiments even at the cost of furthering the tensions in the region. However, one thing is certain. Even an intimidating non-tolerant militarized regime such as the one currently controlling Iran needs to appease its people every once in a while. How it goes about doing that, though, is another story.
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