The US Navy and the US State Department responded to the massive e-letters generated by the Iranian-Americans thru the Iranian-American interest groups. Apparently, the US government still officially uses Persian Gulf (or probably in response to the massive campaign!!!), however, when ships are stationed in the numerous Arabic stations in the Persian Gulf, the navy uses the local names and the Arabic states around the Persian Gulf use Arabian Gulf.
The following is the response from the US Navy. The email from the State department was very similar.
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Subject
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US Navy Calling Persian Gulf “Arabian Gulf”
Discussion Thread
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Response (Public Communication Responder) – 01/21/2011 04:59 PM
Dear xxxxxx:
This is in response to your recent inquiry about the Department of the Navy’s use of the term “Arabian Gulf.”
It has been a long standing practice within the Department of Defense to foster cooperative relationships with our host nations. These relationships include respecting and abiding by local laws and conventions set within these countries.
The term “Arabian Gulf” is used by Navy service members who are stationed within or working primarily with Arab host nations. Use of this terminology is set by these Arab countries and we defer to their preference in regard to terminology.
We would also like to inform you that the Defense Department continues to use “Persian Gulf” in accordance with the DoD Captioning Style Guide. The style guide provides a standard method of writing captions for Department of Defense imagery.
We trust this information provides more clarity on the use of both terminologies. Thank you for contacting the Defense Department.
Public Communication Section
