The Persians have enjoyed being nasty about their Arab neighbours at least since the seventh century, when their land was invaded by Arab armies. From satirical verses about "locust-eaters" out of the parched wastes of Araby to periodic efforts to "purify" the Persian language of Arabic accretions, assertions of cultural superiority have masked a deep historical resentment. Now a row over three spots in the middle of the Persian Gulf (which Arabs, naturally, prefer to call the Arabian Gulf) has provoked fresh transports of emotion-on both sides. A recent trip by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the tiny island of Abu Musa, about 75km (47 miles) from Iran's south coast, prompted the United Arab Emirates (uae) to restate in no uncertain terms its own claims to the island and to two barely inhabited chunks of rock nearby.
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