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THE
PERSIAN GULF
IS THE
PERSIAN
GULF-
March 1998
From
Focus on
Iran
publication By Dr. Assad Homayoun
“…When the American, like the British before
them, grow weary of their imperial duties and sail away,
Iran
will dominate the
Persian Gulf
. It is ordained. No nation in the region can match
Iran
’s size, population or power…The question is:
what kind of
Iran
shall it be? “
Patrick Buchanan- The Washington Times ,
Commentary,
January 14, 1998
Historical facts are known and self-evident. Throughout the years, a few
of
Iran
's neighbouring countries have claimed many of
Iran
's men of sciences and letters as their own. Sadly
enough, now there is yet a new vain attempt to re-name that body of water
which for several millennia has been universally known as the "
Persian Gulf
' to the "
Arabian
Gulf
'.
There are those who are unaware of the historical
truths and while they do not bother to study the history of the region,
they unintentionally contribute to a psychological warfare against the
Iranian people.
Among them, are certain elements in the
U.S.
Defense Department, especially those who serve in
Saudi Arabia
,
Kuwait
and
Bahrain
. In order to appease local sensitivities,
"they" use "
Arabian
Gulf
" instead of the "
Persian Gulf
' simply to please their hosts, unaware that they are refusing to accept
historical facts and international usage.
Indeed they are offending the national feelings of the Iranian
nation.
The ancient Greek geographers and historians called
this body of water "Sinus Persicus". It is interesting that
since before the time of Christ until as late as the 17" century, the
world greatest historians and cartographer s from Strabon and Ptolemy to
famous Flemish geographer, Mercator, along with Arab historians referred
to the Gulf south of Iran as either "Sinus Persicus" or "
Mare Persicum", as distinct from "Arabicus Sinus",
the name they used to refer to what is known as the Red Sea.
The "
Arabian Gulf
' was the
ancient name of the
Red Sea
, actually a gulf prior to being connected with the
Mediterranean
via the opening of the
Suez Canal
. For the last two millennia the term "
Persian Gulf
' has been used universally by historians, geographers, scholars,
strategists and politicians. Also Arab historians and geographers from Ibn
al-Mujawir to Yusuf Kamal, author of "Monumenta Cartographica",
used "AlKhalij al-Fars", or
Persian Gulf
. The late
president Sadat of Egypt, in his book, "Revolt on the
Nile
", correctly identified the Gulf by its historical and original
name. Anyone who has troubled himself to look at antique maps,
contemporary writings and research documents, historical accounts of the
region and encyclopedias written either by western or eastern observers
and scholars would conclude that there is but one single name that is
applicable to the
Persian Gulf
. It is the practice of the White House, the State Department, the U.S.
government agencies and also the United Nations Secretariat, and National
Geographic Society, to use in the document and maps the term "Persian
Gulf" to indicate the body of water between Iran to the north and
east and a number of other states to the south and west. It is a long
established usage that is followed by publishers of atlases and
geographical dictionaries.
It was in the 1950s that and in order to manipulate
the simple yet vital nationalistic sentiment of its people, that the then
Iraqi president Colonel Abdol Karim Ghasem, ventured to refer to the
"
Persian Gulf
', as the "
Arabian Gulf
'. His intention was to create a new common enemy for the Arab world
which were busy fighting
Israel
under the guidance of Egyptian Colonel, Gamal
Abdol Nasser, and to divert the attention of Arab world from
Nasser
's leadership in
Egypt
to his own in
Baghdad
. This strategy back-fired in the true sense of the
word The scholastic community in Baghdad as a whole, and the faculty in
the Baghdad University, especially due to overwhelming amount of historic
and geographical evidence, reaching back to records as ancient as 2.5
millennia, refrained from supporting the belligerent and the unfounded
claim of Colonel Abdol Karim Ghasem.
Even later, when President Gamal Abdol Nasser under the pretext of
enhancing his Pan-Arabist ideology proceeded to use Ghasem's self-invented
term for the "Persian Gulf', he was instantly reminded of his own
earlier comments wherein he had emphatically described the boundaries of
the Arab World as: "Menal Moheet al-Atlasi elal Khalij-ol Farsi
" (from Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf)
As mentioned before, throughout history, educators,
historians, travelers and geographers have always referred to this region
as the "Persian Gulf"not only because of the vast coastal lines
of various Persian Empire or the number of its Persian/Iranian
inhabitants, but simply, and in their own words, to recognize the noble
notion that, "The Persians were the first to have developed and
greatly improved this part of the earth"
Therefore, to apply the term "Arabian Gulf' or
any other name to the Persian Gulf is an error, and indeed is to become a
party to the psychological warfare mainly aimed against the Iranian
people. Thus, this change of historical name, especially by some in the
service of the
U. S.
government who are serving in the region is
entirely absurd, counterproductive, and does not serve the interests of
the
United States
.
We can hope that sooner or later, the rule of
reason and rationalism will triumph in
Iran
and liberty and democracy will replace the
Theocratic regime in
Tehran
. Iranians and Arab must live together in peace. The
Untied
States
and the Arab nations of the region need to deal
with the people of
Iran
, in a just and equitable manner, just as the Iranians need to deal
similarly with their neighbours. Furthermore
Iran
must re-establish friendly relationship with the
United States
on the basis of mutual trust and equality. The
U.S. Department of Defense and especially the Navy which always take
geo-strategic factors into consideration, must also take seriously the
historic sensitivity and the rightful concerns of the Iranian people.
It should be remembered that for three decades prior to the revolution in
Iran
, the Pentagon trained close to 30,000 members of
Iranian Armed Forces and considered
Iran
a principal element of the regions stability. It
ought not forget the past and close the door to future friendly
relationships that will indeed be essential for stability and peace in the
Persian Gulf
. It should be remembered also that the Iranian Navy played a crucial
role as the stabilizer for two decades following the British withdrawal
from the Persian Gulf in 1971. Indeed it was the Iranian Armed Forces
which defended both north and south of the Strait of Homuz against Marxist
subversion. On one hand it prevented the fall of Oman, and on the other
hand thwarted the Yemeni inspired guerrillas to undermine the Persian Gulf
Sheikdoms.
Iran is a land bridge between two centers of the
world's most important energy zones, and the only power among the Persian
Gulf states that has the capability to undertake military operation beyond
its own frontiers. Iran is in the heart of the Eurasian Corridor. Because
of its geo-strategic location, population, resources and cultural identity
it can play a decisive role in the security of the
Persian Gulf
.. Iran
was once a moderating force and it could, once again become a moderate
regional force, friendly to the United States.
For more information and
clarification we would like to refer the readers to following publications
mostly written by historians, geographers and scholars regarding the
Persian Gulf
. We are certain that only through rational channels we
can shed light on and sort historical facts from baseless propaganda,
which were at one time aimed to toy with the territorial integrity of
Iran
, albeit currently being directed in reaction to the
short-sighted policies and irresponsible political behaviour of the ruling
clerical regime of
Tehran
.
1) Revolt On The Nile, Anwar Sadat, John Day Inc.
New York
, 1957
2) Monumenta Cartographica et
Aegypti ( Le Caire), Yusuf Kamal, 1926-51.
3) Geographie, De Strabon, Paris,
1805
4) Historical Geography of
Iraq
, Mohammad Rashid,
Baghdad
University
, 1965
5) Science and Civilization of
China
, J. Needham,
Cambridge
University
Press, 1959
6) The Past History of Arabs and
Islam, Omar Abdol-Nasr,
Beirut
, 1962
7)Political History of Islam, Dr.
Hassan Ibrahim Hassan.
Cairo
, 1935
AZADEGAN FOUNDATION, for democratic change In
Iran
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