Iran may target desalination plants within days, UN official warns
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Iran is ready to strike critical desalination infrastructure in the Middle East within days, a UN official said on Sunday, which would escalate tensions with the United States and Israel and trigger a global economic collapse.
Kaveh CivilAn Iranian scientist and UN official said desalination plants in the region could be hit “in the next few days”, raising the possibility of a wider regional water crisis and affecting global markets.
The regime’s attack threats on Sunday came in response to President Donald Trump’s warning that the United States would strike Iran’s energy infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened within 48 hours.
Khatami Al-Anbiya (PBUH) Central Headquarters spokesman said, “According to previous warnings, if Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is attacked by the enemy, all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region will be targeted.” he said.
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UN official Kaveh Madani has warned that desalination plants in the Middle East could be hit within days, risking a regional water crisis and global economic fallout. (ruelleruelle/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“Desalination plants may be targeted again in the next few days,” Madani told Fox News Digital.
“The world’s driest region may witness a genuine water war, but the knock-on effects on the world economy, including the United States, will be both immediate and permanent,” Madani said, pointing to what he described as a “new phase in the conflict” involving such critical civilian infrastructure. he said.
“Now add the possibility of damage to already fragile water infrastructure, including treatment plants, pump stations and distribution networks,” he said. “The consequences will be catastrophic and permanent.”
Kaveh’s warning comes as the conflict, now in its fourth week, has moved beyond military objectives. Iran’s desalination plants, including one on Qeshm Island and one in Bahrain, have allegedly already been hit.
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Iran is threatening to target desalination and energy infrastructure within days, a UN official has warned, citing lasting consequences for global markets and water supplies. (Gabriela Maj/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Desalination, the process of obtaining drinkable water from seawater, is critical to supplying water to Israel and many of Iran’s neighbors in the Gulf, especially in arid regions where natural freshwater is scarce.
Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, reiterated the regime’s threats in a post published on X on Sunday, warning that if Iran’s power plants were hit, “critical infrastructure, energy and oil in the region will be irreversibly destroyed and oil prices will rise for a long time.”
“With the power outage, water purification and distribution systems will also collapse in some parts of the country,” said Medeni.
“Iran will retaliate by attacking desalination, energy and other energy-related infrastructures throughout the region that are parties to the war, including Israel,” he added. “The price of oil and gas will increase further, the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, creating a humanitarian disaster as millions of people in the region lose access to water and electricity.”
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Aerial view of Qeshm island, separated from mainland Iran by the Clarence Strait, December 10, 2023. (Stringer/File Photo/Reuters)
“The US allegedly attacked a desalination plant on Qeshm Island, and the Iranians allegedly responded by hitting a facility in Bahrain,” he said.
“Iran is the country least reliant on desalination plants, thus clearly including them as legitimate targets for retaliation because this is the major vulnerability of other parties to the war in the Middle East,” he added.
Despite this relative advantage, Iran has faced years of severe drought, poor management of water resources, and declining groundwater levels, resulting in increasing water shortages in some parts of the country.
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“If Iranians run out of water and/or electricity, they will not stand up” Holly Dagressaid the Libitzky Family Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“The unfortunate truth is that the Islamic Republic, facing an existential threat, chooses to let the country burn despite appearing weak,” he said.
