Persian Gulf National Day, commemoration of a historical fact

Since time immemorial, as confirmed by historical documents and maps, the waterway separating the Iranian Plateau from the Arabian Peninsula, has been called the Sea of Fars or the Persian Gulf.

Unfortunately, certain Arab reactionary regimes, have of late, taken the American and Zionist bait, to falsify history and geography by calling this strategic waterway “Arab Gulf”, which has been rejected as spurious by all international bodies and associations, as well as scholars, academicians, historians, geographers, and others. Now we have a special feature in this regard:

The long southern coastline of Iran is bounded by the Persian Gulf, which has an area of about 240,000 square kilometers, and is the world’s third biggest gulf. Its headwaters are fed by the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates which flow into it from Iraq, as well as the Rivers Karoun, Bahmanshir and Jarreh that flow into it from the Iranian province of Khuzestan. The Persian Gulf is linked to the Gulf of Oman – a branch of the Indian Ocean – via the strategic Hormuz Strait through which 40 percent of the world’s oil flows. There are a large number of islands in the Persian Gulf, the largest of which is Qeshm, off the Iranian coast near Hormuz Strait. The most populous island is named Bahrain, which used to be part of Iran throughout history, but which the British colonialists set us a tiny emirate in the 1970s under the rule of the repressive Aal-Khalifa minority regime. The entire northern shores of the Persian Gulf are Iranian coastal waters, while its southern shores are shared by seven Arab countries, that is, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Due to the importance of the Persian Gulf, the Islamic Republic of Iran designated Ordibehesht 10th, the anniversary of Safavid Iran’s victory over the intruding Portuguese forces in this waterway as Persian Gulf National Day.

The importance of the Persian Gulf, where several ancient civilizations arose, has been due to its prominent role in commerce and navigation. In the 20th century, however, with the discovery of oil and gas in this waterway and its littoral states, the Persian Gulf’s importance has greatly increased, warranting the security of this strategic waterway for safe flow of energy. With the discovery of oil, the colonialist powers have increased their meddling in the Persian Gulf region to ensure supply of cheap hydrocarbon energy for their industries. Unfortunately, most of the Arab regimes of the Persian Gulf, instead of cooperating with each and with Iran, have allowed themselves to be exploited by the neo colonialist powers, especially the US, whose unwanted military presence, have created a major security problem.

What has so far hindered the cooperation of the Persian Gulf region has been dependence and reliance of the regional Arab regimes on the US and Britain. Iran, during the rule of the British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi Shah had also turned into client state of the West, but with the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, under the leadership of the Sage of the Age, Imam Khomeini (God bless him), the Islamic Republic of Iran is now a truly independent country, which calls on the US and other intruding powers to leave this waterway. Iran’s proposal for making the Persian Gulf region into a model of cooperation has been rejected by certain Arab reactionary regimes, especially Saudi Arabia. The six Arab states of the southern Persian Gulf littoral, which since the early 1980s had bonded together as the Persian Gulf Cooperative Council (PGCC), do not enjoy the support of the people they rule, and instigated by the so-called Arab nationalists, who emerged half-a-century ago, have coined the spurious term “Arab Gulf” for the Persian Gulf. If these reactionary states want to assert their Arab identity, they should grant freedom to their people and respect the demands of the majority for change of the ruling system. If these regimes are really Arab, as they claim, what prevents them from rallying to the support of the Palestinian people and liberating them from the Zionist yoke? It is unfortunate of these regimes to adopt a hostile posture towards Iran, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, and to attempt to falsify the name of the Persian Gulf, even in the sporting fields by spending huge amounts of money. But the geographical term Persian Gulf is rooted in history and culture of even the Arab peoples of the waterways southern shores, and hence they cannot change it.

The reasoning of the Arab governments for ignoring the original name of the Persian Gulf is so baseless that no credible source accepts their claim. They claim that since the Arabs in the Persian Gulf littoral states are more than the Iranians; this waterway should be named Arab. This is illogical, for; such rule has not been mentioned in any international law and document for naming any international sea and waterway. Moreover if we accept such a rule, many seas should change their names including the Arabian Sea on whose eastern shores hundreds of millions of Indians and Pakistanis live, compared to a few million Arabs on its western shores in Oman and Yemen. The other point is that in many Arab states of the Persian Gulf, the number of non-Arabs is more than the Arabs, and in this case, Iranians have a right to abide by the historical geographical term of Persian Gulf for this strategic waterway. The undeniable fact is that the waterway has been known as Persian Gulf, for thousands of years, as is evident historical documents, maps and manuscripts. The famous Egyptian-Greek philosopher and astronomer, Ptolemy has named this waterway, as Sinus Persicuss which is equivalent to Persian Gulf. In the Islamic era too, this waterway has always been known as the Persian Gulf. In the book titled “Eternal Heritage – Documents on the Persian Gulf's Name”, 3000 historical and geographical books, as well as books in Arabic written from the advent of Islam to the 20th century, have been cited as proof of the use of the term Persian Gulf. This book also refers to one thousand maps prepared by European and Arab cartographers, as well as 30 agreements between Arab governments and Sheikhs, testifying the term Persian Gulf.

The reactionary Arab regimes, instead of their feverish bid of the past half-a-century to change the name of the Persian Gulf, ought to mobilize all resources for ending the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the restoration of the Arab names of town, cities, rivers, and mountains, which Israel has Judicized over the past 70 years. It is rather strange that these reactionary Arab regimes, which turn a blind eye to the Judicization of Arabic and Islamic names in the usurped land of Palestine, are trying to portray the Islamic Republic of Iran as the enemy. As part of this nefarious plot, the United Arab Emirates has laid claim to three of the Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf that is, Abu Musa, Greater Tumb and Lesser Tumb. The new rulers of Saudi Arabia have over the past year ratcheted up feverish propaganda against Iran. The reality is that, these regimes are fearful of their survival, and this is the reason they are moving towards open friendship with the Zionist entity, while bearing their fangs at Islamic Iran. The wave of Islamic Awakening sweeping the region and the inspiration that Arab Muslims draw from the Islamic Republic of Iran has further alarmed the reactionary Arab regimes. They fear that as long as revolutionary ideas of Iran have more supporters among the Arabs, revolutionary ideas will crop up and opposition will grow towards the despotic regimes. This explains the blind support of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, for the Takfiri and other terrorist groups, which they wrongly think can destroy Iran’s allies in the region that is Syria, Iraq and Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah. Thus, it could be said that the confusion, coupled with repeated failures of the reactionary Arab regimes in all arenas, including the futile bid to change the name of the Persian Gulf, have made them worship at the Zionist altar. They should learn lessons from the terrible fate of Saddam, who was once the leading advocate of changing the name of Persian Gulf. Now, he is being punished in afterlife for his shameful acts.

FK/AS/ME