"These are facts supported by historical documents and denying them is illegal," Husseini said, adding that there is a political agenda behind the falsification of history.

Husseini thanked Iranians inside and outside the country who protested "the irrational and opportunist plot of Google" by signing online petitions.

Iran's leading reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, criticized the designation given to the Gulf and called it "suspicious."

"Those in charge of Google Earth serve the purposes of external powers that aim to wreak havoc in the region," the party said in a declaration issued on Monday.


(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid).