Kuwait has claimed that an Iranian airstrike damaged one of its desalination plants, marking the latest major piece of infrastructure targeted in the war, and exposing the scarcity of drinkable water in the region.
The Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy in Kuwait said the attack caused “material damage” to several parts of the desalination plant. The statement did not name the plant that was hit, but it said crews immediately began working to address the damage.
Despite the ministry identifying the desalination plant attack as coming from an Iranian airstrike, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps denied responsibility for the strike and shifted the blame to Israel. However, the Israel Defense Forces told the BBC that it was unaware of the Friday attack.
The Friday strike marks the latest attack on a desalination plant in the Middle East as both warring parties target the critical water infrastructure in the arid region. The desalination process allows Middle Eastern countries to convert the abundant saltwater near them into drinkable freshwater by removing salt and minerals from the liquid.
Kuwait is one of the most water-scarce nations in the world. About 90% of the country’s drinking water comes from its network of desalination plants. The elimination of the plants could pose an existential threat to Kuwait City, the country’s capital, which is heavily reliant on desalination, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The country’s desalination plants have been strategically caught in the crossfire of Middle Eastern warfare before, notably by Iraq in the first Gulf War, CSIS said. Kuwait reportedly has at least eight desalination plants.
There have been at least two reported attacks on Kuwaiti water infrastructure since the start of the Iran war, along with reported attacks on desalination plants in other Middle Eastern countries such as Bahrain and Iran.
The increase in attacks on drinking water infrastructure in the Gulf States could mark a new phase in the war, with heightened concerns over civilian water supply. President Donald Trump this week threatened to target Iranian desalination plants, which coastal cities in the country rely on.
IRAN SAYS US-ISRAEL STRIKE KNOCKED DESALINATION PLANT OFFLINE IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ
“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 plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched,'” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.
One day later, Iran reported an “enemy airstrike” on a desalination plant on Qeshm, an island in the Strait of Hormuz.
