Bushehr, city in southwestern Iran, located on the Persian Gulf, the capital of Bushehr Province. Bushehr is a major fishing and commercial port, and it is an export market for the farm produce of the neighboring and fertile Fars Province. Bushehr's industries include seafood canneries, food-processing plants, and engineering firms. In 1975 the government began building a nuclear power plant at Bushehr. This facility was only partially completed when it was bombed by Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). When Germany, the initial backer of the plant, declined to complete it after the war, Iran tried to secure aid from other countries, a move opposed by the United States. In 1995, however, Russia signed an agreement to finish the plant. Bushehr has an airport, and highways connect the city to Ahvaz to the northwest and Shiraz to the northeast. A secondary coastal road links Bushehr to Bandar-e 'Abbas to the southwest.
The old section of central Bushehr has many examples of traditional Persian Gulf architecture from the period 1870 to 1920. The city was only a small fishing village before 1734 when Nadir Shah chose it as the site for an Iranian naval base. At the end of the 18th century, the British and Dutch transferred their regional commercial offices to Bushehr, and during the 19th century the town was prominent as the home of the British political agent for the Persian Gulf. Britain moved its diplomatic and commercial center across the gulf to the Arabian Peninsula at the beginning of the 20th century, an action that sent Bushehr into an economic decline. The city remained economically depressed until the 1960s when the government initiated a major development program. Population (1994 estimate) 140,615.
