Middle East water crisis: why desalination plants have become key military targets
In today’s conflicts, critical infrastructure is no longer limited to oil fields, pipelines, or power grids. Across the Gulf, desalination plants and cogeneration facilities have emerged as some of the most vulnerable targets on the battlefield. In one of the world’s most water-stressed regions, disabling these facilities can simultaneously cut off access to drinking water and electricity for entire communities. Security experts warn that this is not a traditional “water war.” Instead, water itself is increasingly being used as a tool of military pressure and psychological warfare.
In July, Iranian strikes repeatedly targeted Kuwait’s desalination plants and power generation facilities, placing unprecedented strain on a country that depends almost entirely on seawater desalination for its freshwater supply. In response, Kuwaiti authorities urged residents to reduce electricity consumption, particularly air conditioning use, to help stabilize the country’s power system.
Iran had already targeted desalination infrastructure in both Bahrain and Kuwait earlier in March. Striking these facilities during the peak of summer dramatically amplifies the humanitarian impact. Kuwait has virtually no natural freshwater resources, with about 90% of its drinking water produced through seawater desalination. The country also relies heavily on cogeneration plants, which simultaneously generate electricity and desalinated water. As a result, a single strike can disrupt both essential services at once. Tehran has justified its focus on Kuwait by pointing to the country’s role as host to one of the largest U.S. military deployments in the region.
Iran has accused Washington of employing similar tactics. On March 7, Tehran said U.S. forces struck a desalination facility on Qeshm Island. Iranian officials later alleged that additional U.S. attacks on July 18 destroyed the desalination plant in Bonji, near Jask, and damaged another facility on Qeshm Island. According to Iranian state television, the attacks left roughly 10,000 residents across about 20 villages without access to water. The United States has denied the allegations.
Water-related conflicts are becoming more common
Pierre Blanc, a geopolitics professor at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Bordeaux and Sciences Po Bordeaux, told France 24 that this type of conflict is “unprecedented in the region, but predictable.”
“The main vulnerability of this water supply system is that it depends on a handful of desalination plants, which are extremely sensitive,” Blanc said.
He argues that these attacks do not represent the long-feared “war over water,” because denying access to water is not the primary strategic objective. Instead, they illustrate a new form of conflict in which water becomes the medium through which war is fought, rather than the underlying cause.
Liz Saccoccia, a water security expert at the World Resources Institute (WRI) and lead for the Water, Peace and Security Partnership, says violence linked to water resources is accelerating worldwide. According to the Water Conflict Chronology maintained by the Pacific Institute, researchers documented 844 new violent incidents involving water resources and water systems in 2024, a 20% increase compared with 2023.
According to Saccoccia, water can play several roles during conflict. It can help trigger instability, as happened in Syria, where prolonged drought and groundwater depletion fueled large-scale migration into cities and contributed to conditions that preceded the civil war. Water can also become a casualty of conflict, as seen in the repeated attacks on desalination infrastructure across the Middle East. In other cases, it becomes a direct weapon. In 2023, for example, a dam targeted during the war in Ukraine caused widespread flooding, loss of life, livestock deaths, and the release of toxic contaminants.
These dynamics create a dangerous feedback loop. Water scarcity fuels instability, instability destroys water infrastructure, and damaged infrastructure further intensifies water scarcity.
Iran’s water crisis is likely to worsen because of the war
While attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure also threaten water supplies, the full consequences remain difficult to assess. What is already clear is that the country’s severe water crisis is likely to deepen as the conflict continues.
Iran has endured years of persistent drought. Last year, Tehran, a metropolitan area of roughly 10 million people, came close to emergency evacuation because of critically low water reserves. Environmental experts argue that the crisis stems not only from climate pressures but also from decades of poor water management, unchecked urban expansion, and the extensive construction of dams.
According to Aqueduct, the World Resources Institute’s global water risk assessment platform, Iran falls into the “extremely high” category for baseline water stress, meaning the country withdraws more than 80% of its available renewable water resources.
In November 2025, Iran faced its worst water crisis in decades after a fifth consecutive year of drought. Water levels at Tehran’s Amir Kabir Dam dropped to just 8% of capacity, while 19 major reservoirs across the country had effectively dried up.
Professor Kaveh Madani, director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) and the scholar who coined the term “water bankruptcy,” told Al Jazeera that Iran failed to recognize water availability as a fundamental limit to economic growth.
“Unlike several other ambitious countries across the Middle East and North Africa, Iran continued expanding infrastructure and agriculture without treating water as a limiting resource. Today’s crisis is the result of pushing beyond the country’s natural boundaries,” Madani said.