The U.S. Struck a Desalination Plant on an Iranian Island—30 Villages Were Left Without Drinking Water

The United States struck a water desalination facility on Qeshm Island, leaving dozens of settlements without access to fresh water.

According to Iran’s foreign minister, the attack disrupted water supplies to around 30 villages.

The minister described the incident as a “dangerous precedent”, accusing Washington of being the first to target civilian infrastructure during the current conflict.

Qeshm Island lies in the Persian Gulf off Iran’s southern coast, near the Strait of Hormuz—one of the world’s key routes for oil exports. Because fresh water reserves on the island and in the surrounding coastal areas are extremely limited, such facilities are critically important: they desalinate seawater and supply drinking water to local towns and rural communities. The capacity of individual plants on the island reaches tens of thousands of cubic meters of water per day and is used to supply both the population and regional infrastructure.