Iran claimed on Tuesday that an “enemy airstrike” took one of the desalination plants on Qeshm, an island in the Strait of Hormuz and the larger Persian Gulf, completely offline earlier this month.
“Drinking water on Qeshm Island is supplied by desalination plants,” the head of the Environmental and Occupational Health Center of Iran’s Ministry of Health said on Tuesday, as quoted by the Borna News Agency. “Unfortunately, one of the desalination plants on Qeshm Island was targeted and is completely out of service, as it is not possible to repair it in the short term.”
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Iranian media reported that the island’s desalination facility was struck once in early March, citing the deputy governor of Iran’s southern Hormozgan province.
The Iranian comments come one day after President Donald Trump threatened to target the desalination facilities, which not only supply fresh water to Iran but also to the rest of the Middle East. The threat will be averted if a deal to end the war is reached.
“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization [sic] plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Desalination refers to the process of removing salt and other minerals from seawater to provide fresh water for human consumption and irrigation, primarily through reverse osmosis.
Iran relies on desalination for only about 3% of its drinking water, while neighboring Gulf states get significantly more of their drinking water from this method.
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For instance, Kuwait sources about 90% of its potable water from desalination. Additionally, desalinated water accounts for 86% of drinking water in Oman and 70% in Saudi Arabia.
The United States and Iran are engaging in peace talks as the war drags on. Reopening the Strait of Hormuz, whether through diplomacy or force, remains a key wartime goal for Trump, as the strait’s closure is putting extraordinary pressure on global oil prices. It’s been over four weeks since the conflict started.
