MUSCAT: Oman Air has switched off an inflight map system that labeled the waterway between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran, the subject of a bitter naming dispute, as the "Persian Gulf". The decision followed a storm of criticism on social media after a passenger posted a video showing the map in Arabic referring to the Persian, rather than Arabian Gulf. "Our crew have been notified to disable the disturbing maps," the sultanate's national carrier said in a statement on Twitter.

Two Boeing Dreamliners hired from Kenya Airways used a different map system to its own, it said, adding that it had asked Panasonic, which runs the system, to change the maps "without delay". One Twitter user called the map "a resounding scandal", while another said Oman had "said goodbye to Arabism". "Given that you are an Omani airline and an Arab one, I wish you would take immediate measures to correct the label of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf which is proven in our history," tweeted Hamad Midfa.

Foreign language descriptions can offend either party if they use one name or the other, or sometimes if they avoid an adjective altogether. The United Nations and international maps generally refer to the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran as the "Persian Gulf", the term used by ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy. Arab states, particularly the Gulf states, call it the "Arabian Gulf".

In 2010, Tehran said it would not grant air access to planes using the term "Arabian Gulf" on their inflight maps. Oman is the only state in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to have friendly relations with Iran. Other monarchies in the bloc, particularly Saudi Arabia, accuse Iran of meddling in Arab affairs, especially in Syria and Yemen. The Gulf is home to the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet, and Iran and the United Arab Emirates are embroiled in a territorial dispute over the sovereignty of three islands in the waterway. - Agencies