According to two U.S. officials, President Donald Trump intends to declare during his forthcoming visit to Saudi Arabia next week that the United States will henceforth designate the body of water currently referred to as the Persian Gulf as either the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia.

Arab nations have advocated for a revision of the toponymic designation of the maritime expanse bordering Iran's southern littoral, while Iran has staunchly upheld its historical associations with the gulf.

The two U.S. officials, granted anonymity to elaborate on the matter, engaged with The Associated Press on Tuesday; concomitant inquiries directed to the White House and National Security Council elicited no immediate rejoinder.

Since the sixteenth century, the nomenclature "Persian Gulf" has been the prevailing descriptor for the body of water, notwithstanding the predominant usage of "Gulf of Arabia" and "Arabian Gulf" across numerous Middle Eastern nations. In a notable instance of geopolitical linguistic contention, the Iranian government — historically known as Persia — contemplated legal action against Google in 2012, following the corporation's decision to eschew any designation for the waterway on its cartographic representations.

Within the American cartographic representation of Google Maps, the body of water is officially labelled the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf), while Apple Maps unilaterally identifies it solely as the Persian Gulf.

For a considerable duration, the U.S. military has consistently and unilaterally designated the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf in its official communiqués and disseminated visual media.

The toponymy of the body of water has devolved into a highly charged matter for Iranians who identify with their nation's extensive historical narrative as the Persian Empire. A diplomatic imbroglio arose in 2017 during the initial phase of the Trump administration when he employed the designation Arabian Gulf for the strait. Iran's then-president, Hassan Rouhani, opined that Trump ought to undertake a rigorous study of geography.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif remarked online at the time, "It was widely recognized that Trump's amity was procurable to the highest tenderer; we are now apprised that his geographical sphere is likewise susceptible."

On Wednesday, Iran's incumbent Foreign Minister similarly intervened, positing that appellations designating Middle Eastern waterways convey no intrinsic notion of national proprietary rights but instead underscore a communal reverence for humanity's collective patrimony.

"Politically motivated efforts to unilaterally revise the historically ratified nomenclature of the Persian Gulf are symptomatic of an adversarial disposition towards Iran and its populace, and are unequivocally repudiated," articulated Abbas Araghchi on the digital forum X.

Any precipitate measure undertaken in this regard will be devoid of any legal, geographical, or intrinsic validity, merely serving to ignite the fervent opprobrium of the entire Iranian populace, encompassing all strata of society and ideological leanings, both within Iran's borders and throughout the global diaspora.

While Trump possesses the authority to unilaterally alter the official designation for U.S. purposes, he is fundamentally unable to impose his nomenclature upon the broader international community.

The International Hydrographic Organization — in which the United States holds membership — is dedicated to guaranteeing the comprehensive and uniform hydrographic surveying and charting of all global seas, oceans, and navigable waters, concurrently undertaking their nomenclature; however, discrepancies persist whereby individual nations employ disparate appellations for identical bodies of water or geographical features within their respective documentary records.

The itinerary, originally envisioned as Trump's inaugural foreign sojourn post his January 20th inauguration, encompasses, besides Saudi Arabia, intended stops in Doha, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, all situated on the same maritime expanse, a schedule coinciding with Trump's overtures to the Gulf states aimed at soliciting their financial commitments in the U.S. and fostering collaboration on regional intractable conflicts, such as brokering a resolution to the Israel-Hamas hostilities in Gaza and curbing Iran's burgeoning nuclear capabilities.

The American president's pecuniary interests are significantly interwoven with those nations, an entanglement stemming from his retention of ownership over his personal enterprises whilst occupying the Oval Office.

This shift in nomenclature emerges some months subsequent to Trump's pronouncement that the United States would designate the body of water hitherto known as the Gulf of Mexico by the appellation "Gulf of America."

The Associated Press initiated litigation against the Trump administration earlier this year subsequent to the White House's proscription on its journalists covering the preponderance of events, precipitated by the organization's refusal to comply with the president's executive order dictating the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" within the confines of the United States.

In a ruling delivered last month, U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump, determined that the First Amendment serves as a bulwark safeguarding the AP against governmental reprisal pertaining to its lexical choices, and consequently mandated the restoration of the outlet's access.