Is it the Arabian Gulf or the Persian Gulf??

Now I have read both, but as this petition shows, the debate is still rumbling on with ~70k people already signed up to it. (Note the dig at the age of the various Arab sheikdoms...) But I would say that the Iranians have a point....

For the records, the name Persia has always been used to describe the nation of Iran, its people, and its ancient empires since 600 BC. It is derived from the ancient Greek name for Iran's maritime province, called Fars or Pars in modern Persian, Pars in Middle Persian and Pârsa in Old Persian, a word meaning "above reproach.” Persis is the Hellenized form of Pars, and through the Latinized word Persia, the other European nations came to use this word for the region. This area was the core of the original Persian Empire.

Since ancient times almost all foreigners referred to the entire country
as Persia until March 21, 1935, when Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asked the
international community to call the country Iran — a name that the people of
Persia, themselves, used to refer to their country since the Sassanian period.
"Iran" means "Land of Aryans". In 1959 some Persian scholars protested to the
government that the name change had separated the country from its ancient
civilization. Therefore, the late King Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi announced that both Persia and Iran can be used in Western languages.

Without disparaging the Arabs, Iranians are proud of their non-Arab heritage and
strongly resent any attempt at denigrating or changing any aspect of their
Iranian heritage. And the Persian Gulf occupies a pivotal place in the Iranian
history and culture. Furthermore, Iran abuts the Persian Gulf for 2,000 Km,
while about a dozen recently-created Arab Sheikhdoms and emirates border the
Gulf on the other side.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!