The "Gulf"s in American politics

In India, when people refer to "the Gulf", it is the Persian Gulf they have in mind.  Because of the hundreds of thousands of Indians who work in the countries by that Gulf--with the exception of Iran. 
Now, with the BP oil gusher, here in the US when we say "the Gulf" we are, of course, referring to the Gulf of Mexico.
I told my freshman class, as the catastrophe started unfolding, that 30 years ago our attention was on the Persian Gulf, and now it is on the Gulf of Mexico.  And that it is only a matter of time before we are, once again, fixated on the Persian Gulf.