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Iran steps up campaign to keep the Gulf 'Persian'
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has stepped up its campaign to keep the Gulf "Persian", by withdrawing an invitation to a National Geographic (news - web sites) magazine editor to attend a photo festival, officials said.
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Organisers of the "Art and Prayer Festival" told AFP they had invited the prestigious US magazine's picture editor, Susan Welchman, to join them on the jury for the exhibition's competition but said she was now no longer welcome.
Iranian officials are angered that the latest issue of National Geographic's atlas refers to the stretch of water between them and the Arabian peninsula as "The Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)".
National Geographic magazine has already been banned from going on sale in Iran, pending a "correction" of the atlas.
Identifying the strategic stretch of water has long been a sensitive topic for Iran, and officials here reserve harsh words and the right to act for anyone who thinks it is "Arabian".
On Monday Iran threatened Al-Jazeera television with action for an online animated cartoon showing an Iranian cleric ignoring regional problems in favour of taking action over what to call the Gulf.
And Iranians have also taken the battle to cyberspace, with their site appearing first whenever anyone uses the popular Google search engine to find information on the "Arabian Gulf".
Their site, a parody of Internet error messages, tells surfers that "The Gulf you are looking for does not exist. Try Persian."