Iran has begun launching strikes against desalination plants in US ally countries
Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity has reported that Iran has struck a desalination plant and a power station. According to the ministry, a fire broke out at one of the facilities, and following the attacks on 18 July, several power units at the station were taken offline.
This is the second day in a row that, according to CNN, Iranian forces have attacked seawater desalination plants in Kuwait. Such facilities meet around 90 per cent of the country’s fresh water needs. In Oman, they cover approximately 90 per cent of demand; in Bahrain, around 85 per cent; and in Saudi Arabia, around 70 per cent.
Meanwhile, Iran has also reported an attack on a desalination plant. A spokesperson for Hormozgan Province claims that a US missile strike damaged one such facility in the coastal area of Bonji. According to him, residents of 20 villages were left without a water supply.
In March 2026, at the start of the war between the US, Israel and Iran, desalination plants had already been targeted. At the time, the World Water Council condemned such strikes and called on all parties to comply with international law. The organisation emphasised that the Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on resources essential to the survival of the civilian population, in particular on sources and facilities for the supply of drinking water.
The US and Iran have been exchanging strikes for the ninth consecutive day amid a dispute over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The US military has reported a new series of strikes on Iranian command centres, air defence systems, coastal surveillance systems and naval facilities.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to have launched ballistic missile strikes against US aircraft at Aqaba Airport in Jordan, as well as against US military facilities and equipment at Al Adiri Camp, at Ali Salem Air Base in Kuwait and on Syrian territory.
On Monday morning, air-raid sirens also sounded in Bahrain. The country’s Ministry of the Interior reported an air threat, whilst the Kuwaiti army stated that it had intercepted drones during the Iranian attack.
In addition, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported an attack on two oil tankers which, it claimed, were attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman in contravention of orders. The UK Maritime Trade Operations confirmed that one of the vessels in the area had caught fire.
According to Reuters, citing information from LSEG, four vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, compared with eight the previous day.
