Iranian Foreign Ministry Summons Iraqi Ambassador Over Gulf Name Debacle

The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran after a number of Iraqi officials called the Persian Gulf "Arabian Gulf" during the Gulf Cup football tournament, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Wednesday.

"We summoned the ambassador of Iraq to the Foreign Ministry and notified the Iraqi side of the sensitivity of the great Iranian nation about the use of the exact and full term of the Persian Gulf," Amirabdollahian was quoted as saying by Iran's Tasnim news agency.

On January 6, FIFA President Gianni Infantino attended the Gulf Cup's opening ceremony, where he called the Persian Gulf "Arabian Gulf.

" Muqtada Sadr, Iraq's most influential Shiite politician, also called the gulf this way in his greeting message to the guests of the event on his Twitter channel a day earlier.

The Gulf Cup is a football tournament held since 1970 by the teams from the Persian Gulf countries. The 25th Gulf Cup tournament started on Friday in the Iraqi city of Basra and will run until January 19. Iraq is hosting the tournament for the first time since 1979.