Zahran, Az-

Also spelled  Dhahran,   town, northeastern Saudi Arabia, in the Dammam oil field, just south of the Persian Gulf port of ad-Dammam. Near the scene of the original discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia in 1938, it is now a modern community that serves as the administrative headquarters of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). A major United States Air Force Base was built in 1945 and continues in use. The town