Iran has been threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz for years – it’s a key part of Tehran’s defence strategy

In a 1974 interview with the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the US journalist Mike Wallace briefly referred to the dispute over the naming of what has been generally called “Sinus Persicus” (Persian Gulf) since ancient times – and what Wallace called “the Gulf”.

Pahlavi asked his interviewer: “Why do you call it ‘the Gulf’? You have been to school, haven’t you?” to which Wallace replied that he had. “What was the name that you read during your school days?” the shah asked. “The Persian Gulf,” Wallace admitted...