Two US officials say that next week, during his trip to Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump plans to announce that the United States will begin calling the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia.

Arab countries want to change the name of the sea near the south of Iran, but Iran says it has always been connected to this gulf.

Two officials from the U.S. spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday. They did not want their names used because they were discussing a sensitive topic. The White House and the National Security Council did not answer requests for comments right away.

The Persian Gulf has been known by that name for a long time, since the 1500s. However, in many Middle Eastern countries, it is more commonly called the 'Arabian Gulf'. In 2012, the government of Iran, which used to be called Persia, threatened to take legal action against Google. This was because Google decided not to put any name on that body of water on their maps.

In the U.S., Google Maps shows this sea as the Persian Gulf (also called the Arabian Gulf). However, Apple Maps only calls it the Persian Gulf.

For many years, the U.S. military has called the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf in their official statements and pictures.

For Iranians who are proud of their country's long history as the Persian Empire, the name of this area of water is a sensitive topic.

At that time, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, wrote online that everyone knew Trump's friendship could be bought by the person who paid the most, and now they knew that his knowledge of geography could also be bought.

On Wednesday, Iran’s foreign minister also gave his opinion, saying that the names of Middle East seas and rivers do not mean one country owns them. Instead, they show respect for the history that is important to all people.

Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media that trying to change the historical name of the Persian Gulf for political reasons shows that people are against Iran and its people, and these actions are strongly criticized.

Any quick decision on this issue will not be accepted and will not have any real effect; it will only make all Iranians in Iran, the U.S., and around the world very angry, no matter who they are or what they believe.

Trump can change the official U.S. name, but he cannot force the rest of the world to use that name.

The International Hydrographic Organization, which the US belongs to, makes sure that all the world's seas and oceans are measured and mapped in the same way. This group also gives names to some of these waters, but sometimes countries use different names for the same water or place.

Besides Saudi Arabia, Trump will also visit Doha in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. These cities are also located near the same sea. This trip was planned as Trump's first overseas journey since he became president on January 20. Trump is trying to build stronger relationships with countries in the Gulf area. He wants them to invest money in the U.S. and help with problems in the region, such as ending the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The U.S. president also has important financial links to these countries because of his personal businesses, which he continued to own while he was president.

This change happened several months after Trump said the U.S. would start calling the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

The Associated Press sued the Trump administration this year. The White House had stopped their journalists from covering most events. This happened because the news organization did not follow the president’s order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” in the United States.

A U.S. judge, appointed by President Donald Trump, decided last month that the First Amendment protects the Associated Press from the government punishing them for the words they use. He ordered that they should be allowed access again.