The speakers of the Iraqi and Iranian parliaments became embroiled in a naming dispute on Thursday concerning the body of water situated south of both nations. The disagreement may have been instigated by a map shared by former U.S. President Donald Trump on social media, which labeled the Strait of Hormuz as "new U.S. territory."
Following Trump's post, Iran's Parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, shared a photograph of himself seated before a map prominently displaying "Persian Gulf" in both English and Farsi. In response, the speaker of Iraq's Council of Representatives, Haibat al-Halbousi, posted an altered image showing himself with "Arabian Gulf" superimposed in Arabic over the waterway.
The two parliamentary leaders had met in Iraq earlier in the week to discuss Iraqi oil exports, which have been affected by the ongoing conflict involving the United States and Iran. Al-Halbousi is associated with the Progress Party, a Sunni bloc that holds a position opposing Iranian-backed parties within Iraq.
For centuries, the most common designation for this body of water, officially a sea of the Indian Ocean, has been "Persian Gulf." However, following the emergence of Arab independence movements in the early 20th century, many Arab nations began to favor the term "Arabian Gulf."
Iran's consulate in Najaf, in response to al-Halbousi's post, shared images from a 1936 Iraqi government geographical guide that identified the waterway as the "Persian Gulf." Additionally, the Islamic Republic's consulate in Hyderabad, India, issued a more pointed remark, stating, "Every masterpiece of art has its ridiculous echo."