Tuesday, December 05, 2006
:: International
Iran accuses Louvre of deleting 'Persian Gulf' http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/international/iran-accuses-louvre-of-deleting-'persian-gulf'.aspx
Tehran, Dec. 4: Iran has protested that France's celebrated art and antiquities museum the Louvre has deleted the word Persian from descriptions of the Gulf in its guides, Iranian media reported on Monday.
"We have recently become aware of this. Certainly, our embassy will object to this and will pursue the case," Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Ali Hossieni was quoted as saying.
This is not the first time the Iranian authorities have vehemently protested over the name of the waterway separating Iran and the Arabian peninsula. In 2004, the Iranians worldwide objected to the move by the prestigious United States magazine National Geographic when it printed the words "Arabian Gulf" instead of "Persian Gulf" in its atlas. The then Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi boasted of a "victory for every Iranian", when the offending phrase was removed.
The Iranian authorities have been keeping up their campaign to keep the Gulf's terminology "Persian", renaming a key highway after the body of water.
Tehran's city council chose to name a road between Tehran and its new international airport on the road to the clerical city of Qom the "Persian Gulf Highway".
Iran accuses Arabs on the other side of the water of trying to rename it the "Arabian Gulf" and has threatened tough reprisals for anyone who follows suit. (AFP)
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