DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has ordered the removal from a textbook of the term "Persian Gulf" for the waterway that is the subject of a bitter naming dispute with Iran, a newspaper reported yesterday.

The UAE education ministry stepped in after complaints that the book was using that name instead of "Arabian Gulf" that Arab countries use to describe the body of water, Emirat Al-Youm said.

The ministry said the fourth grade textbook, which featured a map with the name, had been on "trial and will be corrected in future prints", the daily reported. The authorities would distribute stickers to "cover the mistake", it added.