Abadan is a city in the Central District of Abadan County, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. The city is in the southwest of the county. It lies on Abadan Island. The island is bounded in the west by the Arvand waterway and to the east by the Bahmanshir outlet of the Karun River, 53 kilometres (33 mi) from the Persian Gulf, near the Iran–Iraq border. Abadan is 140 km from the provincial capital city of Ahvaz.

The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran or Anglo-Soviet invasion of Persia was the joint invasion of the neutral Imperial State of Iran by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union in August 1941. The two powers announced that they would stay until six months after the end of the war with their enemy Nazi Germany, which turned out to be 2 March 1946. On that date the British began to withdraw, but the Soviet Union delayed until May, citing "threats to Soviet security".