Bandar-e Mahshahr () is a city in the Central District of Bandar Mahshahr County, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.
Demographics Most of its people speak a dialect that was a mixture of standard Persian, Southern Luri and Bushehri Persian, which is still spoken by most people, taught by the elderly people to the younger generations (the dialect though still thrives in Hendijan and especially Genaaveh). So now Mahshahrians are still mainly Lur-speaking. Local Persians are mostly of Behbahani, Qanavati, and Bandari families. There is also a local Arabic-speaking minority whose roots go back to Qabban in Iraq.Kanʻānī Hindījānī, ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd. 2002. Tārīkh va jughrāfiyā-yi sarʹzamīn-i kuhan bā tamaddunī dīrīnah az Arjān tā Qabān, Hindījān, Bandar Māhshahr, Shādagān. Shīrāz: Navīd-i Shīrāz.
Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 109,927 in 24,110 households. The following census in 2011 counted 153,778 people in 38,301 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 162,797 people in 45,208 households.
Climate On July 31, 2015, at around 4:30 PM Iran Daylight Time (3:10 PM apparent solar time), the air temperature measured at the Bandar-e Mahshahr airport was , the dew point was , and the relative humidity was 49%. This corresponds to a wet-bulb temperature of , slightly below the mark that is considered the maximum humans can tolerate, above which extended exposure will lead to death.Samenow, Jason. "Iran city hits suffocating heat index of 165 degrees, near world record". The Washington Post. July 31, 2015. Together, the city had a heat index of , the second highest heat index ever recorded anywhere in the world.
Port and special economic zone The port of Bandar-e Mahshahr is immediately adjacent to the East of the port of Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni. It is specialized in oil and petrochemical products exports. It includes a special economic zone used by the National Iranian Petrochemical Company and the National Petrochemical Company (NPC), the Special industrial economic zones 'Petzone'.
The port of Bandar-e Mahshahr is mostly used by tanker ships and is accessible through the same channel as the port of Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni, i.e. the 42 miles long, 45 meter deep Khor Musa channel.
Universities Mahshahr has two universities. Islamic Azad University of Mahshahr and Amirkabir University of Technology, Mahshahr campus. Both universities concentrate on engineering programs, especially petroleum and petrochemical engineering.
2026 conflict In April 2026, during the US-Israel war on Iran, airstrikes targeted the special petrochemical zones of Mahshahr and Bandar Imam in Iran. Iranian media reports indicated that a minimum of five individuals lost their lives, while approximately 170 others sustained injuries as a result of the assaults on these regions.
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