Can Trump Rename the Persian Gulf?

President Trump has floated changing the name of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf ahead of a trip to the Middle East next week, a move that infuriated Iran and its people.

“I’ll have to make a decision,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. I don’t know if feelings are going to be hurt.”

This past week, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Trump planned to announce the renaming on his tour of several Arab countries, which have been lobbying for the change for years.

The turquoise blue water has been called the Persian Gulf since at least 550 B.C., when the Persian dynasty of Cyrus the Great ruled an empire that spanned from India to the edges of western Europe. Ancient Persia is now modern-day Iran, and its entire southern coast stretches along the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s governments, going back to the pre-revolution era of the shah, have stoutly defended Persian Gulf as the only legitimate name. So have Iranians inside and outside the country, who view the name as a core part of their national and cultural identity.