Iran slams Google for map flap

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 17 (UPI) -- Iran says it will sue Google for removing the tag identifying the Persian Gulf from its popular Google Maps service.

The body of water between Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar was left without a name after the search giant removed the tag from its popular world mapping service, ZDNet.com reported Thursday.

The name of the Persian Gulf has been a point of contention between Iran and Arab countries since the 1960s, with some Arab states calling it the Arabian Gulf.

It is not clear whether Google removed the name or if the deletion was the result of a bug in the Google Maps system, ZDNet.com said.

The United Nations and many governments, including the United States and Britain, call the waters the Persian Gulf.

A Google spokesperson told Britain's The Guardian "reports were exaggerated and that it had not removed the term Persian Gulf, saying that 'the body of water' had not been labeled from the beginning, like many other places."