I just learned that Iran has canceled the Islamic Solidarity Games after Saudi Arabia asked Iran to remove the term Persian Gulf from game medals and brochures and replace it with the name Arabian Gulf.
Here is Press TV’s earlier coverage:
The Islamic Solidarity Games is a multinational, multi-sport event, governed by the Islamic Solidarity Games Federation, (ISSF)responsible for the direction and control of the games.
In a meeting held in Tehran, Saleh Gazdar, ISSF Secretary General and Mohammad Bashir Al-Trabosli, ISSF Technical Committee Chairman asked Iranian officials to remove the term Persian Gulf from all game medals and brochures.
“They asked us to use the distorted name of Arabian Gulf during the contests. Iran, however, never retreats from its stance concerning the use of the Persian Gulf,” said Hasan Mirza Aghabeigi, executive secretary of the event.
“The Islamic Solidarity Sport Federation has always accepted the Iranian stance on the Persian Gulf. We are keeping the Persian Gulf name in all of our brochures, maps and medals,” he added.
“With the Federation accepting our stance, the technical committee is scheduled to check the stadiums in Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad,” Aghabeigi said.
The games, which will take place October 16 to 30 in Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad, include football, volleyball, basketball, handball, swimming, water polo, archery, fencing, weightlifting and table tennis.
Iran is hosting the event which will play a great role in strengthening solidarity between Muslims.
They should have agreed to referring to it simply as “the Gulf”. Not Persian, not Arabian, just Gulf.