A desalination plant in Ras al-Khair, Saudi Arabia. (Credit: Fayez Nureldine/AFP)
As the war between the U.S.-Israeli axis and Iran now extends beyond oil fields and military facilities, a far more dangerous threshold is being crossed: that of water. Recent strikes and Tehran’s threats against desalination plants — long regarded as untouchable civilian infrastructure — suggest a troubling shift toward turning access to drinking water into a weapon of war. Desalination facilities in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates sustained indirect damage following Iranian missile and drone strikes at the start of the war. Subsequently, plants in Bahrain and Iran were reportedly deliberately targeted. Nowhere is this vulnerability more pronounced than in the Gulf states, where dependence on desalinated water is among the highest in the world and constitutes one of the pillars of life in a region poor in water resources. More on...
As the war between the U.S.-Israeli axis and Iran now extends beyond oil fields and military facilities, a far more dangerous threshold is being crossed: that of water. Recent strikes and Tehran’s threats against desalination plants — long regarded as untouchable civilian infrastructure — suggest a troubling shift toward turning access to drinking water into a weapon of war. Desalination facilities in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates sustained indirect damage following Iranian missile and drone strikes at the start of the war. Subsequently, plants in Bahrain and Iran were reportedly deliberately targeted. Nowhere is this vulnerability more pronounced than in the Gulf states, where dependence on desalinated water is among the highest in the world and constitutes one of the pillars of life in a region poor in water resources. ...
