Trump to rename another body of water as he wipes out 500-year-old name to cozy up to Arab nations

By NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Published: 03:44 BST, 7 May 2025 | Updated: 03:51 BST, 7 May 2025

President Donald Trump is expected to announce that he’s renaming another body of water during his whirlwind trip next week to the Middle East. 

The Associated Press reported Tuesday night that Trump will put his finger on the scale and say that the U.S. will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia. 

The body of water is situated between Iran and all three Arab nations that Trump will visit – Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – in a four-day trip to the region departing from the White House Monday.

While the name ‘Persian Gulf’ has been around since the 16th century, in modern times many countries in the Middle East have started calling it the Gulf of Arabia or the Arabian Gulf. 

They’ve done so to show their clout over Iran.  

This has irritated Iran, formerly called Persia, whose government threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to name the body of water on all of its maps. 

Ahead of the Middle East trip, Trump had touted that a major announcement was coming. 

‘We’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make. Like, as big as it gets, and I won’t tell you on what,’ the president said Tuesday during an Oval Office Q&A alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

President Donald Trump is expected to put his finger on the scale and announce that the U.S. would officially call the Persian Gulf the Gulf of Arabia or the Arabian Gulf, to be more in line with the three Arab nations that he will visit next week 

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump announced that the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the ‘Gulf of America,’ which set off a battle with the Associated Press, which has an influential style guide used by journalists around the world 

‘And it’s very positive. It’ll be one of the most important announcement that have been made in years about a certain subject,’ the president teased. 

It’s unclear if the naming announcement was what he was referring to. 

The U.S. military was already using Arabian Gulf in statements and photos.  

Experts DailyMail.com spoke to ahead of the trip floated that Trump’s big announcement was likely how much the Saudis would invest in the U.S.

The Arabian Gulf announcement will come as the U.S. has reinitiated talks with Iran after Trump scrapped the Obama-era nuclear deal during his first term. 

Another round of nuclear talks are expected to take place in Oman this weekend.

Trump has made it clear that Iran absolutely cannot have a nuclear weapon.

‘I want Iran to be really successful, really great, really fantastic,’ he said during Sunday’s Meet the Press interview. ‘The only thing they can’t have is a nuclear weapon. If they want to be successful, that’s OK. I want them to be successful.’ 

The ‘Gulf of Arabia’ seen from the beaches of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, one of the three Arab nations President Donald Trump will visit in a whirlwind trip next week 

‘I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon because the world will be destroyed,’ the president added. 

It wasn’t immediately clear if the renaming of the Persian Gulf would interfere with those plans. 

One of his opening acts on January 20th, inauguration day, was to proclaim that the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the ‘Gulf of America.’ 

When the Associated Press refused to change the Gulf’s name in their influencial style guide, Trump pushed the wire service’s reporters and photographers out of the press ‘pool,’ the group of journalists allowed into tight spaces including the Oval Office and on Air Force One.

The White House and the AP are still involved in litigation over the matter. 

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Trump to rename another body of water as he wipes out 500-year-old name to cozy up to Arab nations

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