Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni (, also Romanized as Bandare Emam Xomeyni; formerly, Bandar Šâhpur) is a city and capital of Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni District of Mahshahr County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. As of the 2006 census, its population was 67,078, in 14,681 families. Bandar Imam Khomeini is a port city on the Persian Gulf in Khūzestān Province, Iran. Before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, it was known as Bandar Shahpur. It is named after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The city is home to Petrochimi Bandar Imam basketball club, which plays in the Iranian Super League. Port history The port is located at the terminus of the Trans-Iranian Railway linking the Persian Gulf with Tehran and on to the Caspian Sea. It is part of same nautical complex as the port of the adjacent city of Bandar-e Mahshahr. Both ports are accessible through the same channel. During World War II it consisted only of a jetty, two shipping berths, a railhead and warehouses and a civilian settlement some miles distant. The port was initially in German and Italian hands, but was stormed on August 25, 1941, by a combined British and Indian force supported by the Royal Navy. A flotilla led by the armed merchant cruiser HMS Kanimbla sailed up the waterways and in the raid captured eight Axis vessels, two gunboats and the floating dock. It was at time that, among others, the German ship Hohenfels fell into British hands and became Empire Kamal. Thereafter it was administered by the US Army 482nd Port Battalion and served as a critical supply point for Allied military aid for Soviet Russia. The port facilities were also used for merchant and military vessel layup and repair. Three additional berths were built during the war. Port operations The port of Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni is an Iranian national port operating under the authority of the Iranian Ports and Maritime Organisation. it is the northernmost Iranian port on the Persian Gulf. The Bandar Imam port is a transshipment point for containers, bulk and general cargo, with exclusive access to the facilities held by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL Group). In 2005, the Iranian government proposed direct container shipments between the port and western Europe, but negotiations with shipping lines for dedicated port facilities and access have not concluded. A dozen kilometres east of Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni port is the port of Bandar-e Mahshahr which specialises in exporting