It’s Persian Gulf, Stupid!
By: Kaveh L. Afrasiabi
Randey Forbes, the Republican lawmaker from Virginia who is the Chair of the House Armed Forces subcommittee, has introduced a bill that condemns Iran's brief detainment of American sailors in January, 2016, which was, in fact, applauded by the White House officials as a "good story" of how prior nuclear diplomacy has paid off. Not so, according to the Republicans, who want to exploit the story in an election year, even to the point of succumbing to extreme Iranophobia.
Not surprisingly, in Forbes' proposed bill, H.Res. 709, there are repeated references to "Arabian Gulf." This too is in direct contradiction to the official position of the US Government, reflected in countless press releases and statements by various US presidents and secretaries of state that refer to Persian Gulf. Case in point, the White House website covering President Obama's recent trip to the region uses the term Persian Gulf.
The deliberate attempt by anti-Iran US politicians to distort the name of Persian Gulf is clearly a part and parcel of their Iranophobic strategy that resonates with the Trumpist militarism, in light of the ultra-nationalist Donald Trump's growing chances to be the Republican nominee for the presidency. Trump in a certain way represents a new American fascism that is in response to the decline of American empire, relying on American hard power to reverse this decline. The quasi-populist Trump is, contrary to some misleading interpretations in Iran, definitely bad news for US-Iran relations, given Trump's pledge to scrap the Iran nuclear deal if elected as president.
But, fortunately Trump has alienated so many sectors of American population, women, Hispanics and other minorities, as well as some of US's allies including the neighboring Mexico, that, in turn, give hope to his likely opponent, Democrat at Hillary Clinton, to be the first female president in US history. This is, of course, barring unforeseen developments between now and November, such as a serious foreign policy crisis, which would benefit the more militarist Trump.
That is why it is all the more important for Iran to not give the Iranophobic Republicans the excuse to exploit the muddy waters and saddle themselves on the White House. Whatever her shortcomings, Clinton has at least endorsed the Iran deal and her husband, Bill Clinton, initiated some feeble engagements with Iran during the Khatami era which can now be deepened with Hillary as president. The Persian Gulf needs to remain a stable environment for the sake of all involved.
With respect to the anti-Iran bill cited above, it calls for a national campaign by Iranian-Americans to sign a petition addressed to US Congress opposing the distorted term of "Arabian Gulf." The sinister purpose of this term is to deny Iran its legitimate rights in its own primary turf that has been so for centuries, this by a distant superpower that has zero tolerance for any outside force in its vicinity. If signed by thousands of patriotic Iranian-Americans, then Representative Forbes and others might have second thoughts about their sponsorship of such horrendous pieces of legislation. At a minimum, they would realize that there is a powerful constituency in US that defends Iran's national interests, no matter what the regime in Tehran, simply because these are trans-regime innate interests of Iran.