Washington (CNN) — The U.S. Navy’s Facebook page is awash with thousands of pro-Iranian messages protesting the force’s designation of the “Arabian Gulf” instead of the “Persian Gulf.”
Since last Thursday, as many as 4,000 messages have hit the page as part of a coordinated computer initiative from around the world, according to the Navy.
The messages strongly advocate that the Navy use the name Persian Gulf instead of Arabian Gulf for the waters off the coast of Iran, and they are believed to have been a result of several Facebook “cause” pages advocating the change, according to Navy officials.
As a result of the extremely heavy traffic on the Navy Facebook page — used by service members around the world — and with postings still coming in, many of the messages are being designated as spam and are not being posted, according to Rear Adm. Dennis Moynihan, chief spokesman for the Navy. However, by scrolling through the site, viewers can still see several older anti-Arabian Gulf postings.
Some examples (with spellings and wordings verbatim) of postings:
— “From thousands years ago this gulf had been persian gulf and it will be forever persian…sorry for americans.”
— “How can world trust you when you easily change the history ? It’s persian Gulf forever.”
— “Is anybody in US Navy who has studied the geography? Have you ever been at school? Have you studied geography? Wha… >>>
