[6] 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.

[7] 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.

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 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).

Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni port is connected by rail and road, to the west with Abadan and Khorramshahr and their joint Arvand Free Zone,[12] along the Iran - Iraq border, and to the north to Ahvaz, Teheran and the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus countries.