Ahmadinejad: Persian Gulf name irrefutable, non-negotiable

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insists the name of Persian Gulf is so indisputable that makes it beyond negotiation, Press TV reported.

"The name of the Persian Gulf is so irrefutable that it is non-negotiable," President Ahmadinejad said Thursday in a live televised program in Iran's southern Hormozgan province on the Persian Gulf coastline.

"Some claims lack legal and political values," the Iranian chief executive added. "Those who make such claims say that they are under pressure to do so."

President Ahmadinejad further pointed out that all credible maps in the world bear the name of the Persian Gulf.

"Nobody can change Iran's strong relations with the regional countries," he also reiterated.

Despite the existence of historical and geographical documents that prove, beyond doubt, the authenticity of the Persian Gulf's name, some Arab states over the past years have spared no efforts to violate the international standards and distort the name of these waters to "Arabian Gulf."

Since Persian Gulf occupies a pivotal place in the Iranian history and culture, the false use of the name of the area has always provoked the annoyance of Iranian people and governments.

The historical and geographical name of the Persian Gulf has been endorsed and clarified by the United Nations on many occasions and is in use by the United Nations, its member states, and all other international agencies worldwide. The last UN Directive confirming the name of the Persian Gulf was on August 18, 1994.

The use of the distorted name of the Persian Gulf was also described as 'faulty' by the Eighth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names in Berlin on August 27, 2002.