Category: War, from Wikidata’s class “battle”
Battle of Khorramshahr (1980)
Part of: Iran–Iraq War
Wikidata classes on our event-class list: battle (all its classes: Wikidata item)
The First Battle of Khorramshahr was a major battle in the Iran–Iraq War, beginning shortly after the Iraqi invasion of Iran in September 1980. Amidst the gruelling urban warfare in and around the city, Khorramshahr came to be referred to by the Iranians as Khuninshahr (Persian: خونین شهر, lit. 'City of Blood'), as both sides had suffered heavy casualties in combat. It was the single largest urban battle of the Iran–Iraq war.
Though Iraq ultimately captured the city, it had come at a high cost; the offensive into Khorramshahr, which took 34 days, drew an immense investment of troops, far beyond what Iraqi war plans had envisaged. The incredible delay allowed Iran to stabilize the frontlines at Dezful, Ahvaz, and Susangerd, consequently enabling the relatively swift mobilization of Iranian reinforcements into oil-rich Khuzestan, which Iraq had sought to annex. At the time of the Iraqi offensive, Khorramshahr was mainly being defended by the heavily outnumbered Takavaran, some units of the 92nd Armoured Division, the Pasdaran, and local civilian militias.
After two years under Iraqi occupation, the city was recaptured by Iran in the Second Battle of Khorramshahr, as part of Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas. Iraq's loss of Khorramshahr coincided with a larger Iranian offensive that would mark a turning point in the conflict, as Iran regained nearly all Iraqi-occupied territory and subsequently decided to continue the war with a counterinvasion.
Text retrieved 2026-09-26 from Wikipedia.
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The link is the Wikipedia revision of August 20, 2026 (revision 1370267021), whose lead is exactly the text shown here.
APA 7
Battle of Khorramshahr (1980). (2026, August 20). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Khorramshahr_(1980)&oldid=1370267021
MLA 9
“Battle of Khorramshahr (1980).” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Aug. 2026, en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Khorramshahr_(1980)&oldid=1370267021.
Chicago (note)
Wikipedia, “Battle of Khorramshahr (1980),” last modified August 20, 2026, 03:13 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Khorramshahr_(1980)&oldid=1370267021.
Chicago (shortened note)
Wikipedia, “Battle of Khorramshahr (1980).”
Chicago cites well-known reference works such as Wikipedia in notes only, not in the bibliography.
This event on Middle East, 1900–present: https://middleeast.events/event/battle-of-khorramshahr-1980
If you use the map’s borders: CShapes 2.0 - historical country borders. Schvitz, G., et al. (2022). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. https://icr.ethz.ch/data/cshapes/ (modified by middleeast.events); West Bank Areas A/B/C: UN OCHA / HDX "Oslo Agreement" Areas A/B/C (West Bank). Distributed under the legacy HumanitarianResponse.info terms: non-commercial use with credit to UN OCHA. https://data.humdata.org/dataset/state-of-palestine-other-0-0-0-0-0; some corrected border points: GeoNames - CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). https://www.geonames.org/
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by Wikipedia contributors, from the article Battle of Khorramshahr (1980). Classes are Wikidata’s labels (CC0). “Part of” is Wikidata’s statement, in its labels (CC0).