Iran says US strikes cut water to villages as Gulf attacks spread
Tehran said a desalination plant in southern Iran was hit, while Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan reported Iranian attacks or air alerts.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
US strikes in southern Iran knocked out parts of a desalination facility and left 10,000 people without water, according to an Iranian water official quoted by Tasnim news agency. The reported damage came as Iran fired drones and missiles at US-linked targets and nearby Gulf states, widening a week of direct attacks across the region.
Hamzeh Pour, chief executive of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, told Tasnim on Saturday that a seawater pumping station and a power transformer at the Bunji desalination plant in Jask had been destroyed. He said the damage cut water supplies to 20 villages.
The strike was reported after US Central Command said American forces had carried out another overnight round of attacks in Iran. CENTCOM said the targets included surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons stores and maritime capabilities.
Iranian state media published images and video that it said showed damage to bridges and rail lines in southern Iran. Tehran has accused Washington of hitting civilian infrastructure and committing war crimes as the US campaign has grown in intensity over the past week.
Gulf states report attacks and alerts
Kuwait said early Saturday that it closed its airspace after Iranian attacks hit two power and water desalination plants. Kuwait’s firefighting force said several firefighters were wounded while tackling a fire caused by the strikes.
In Bahrain, air raid sirens sounded repeatedly and authorities told residents to take shelter. Jordanian authorities said they intercepted 10 Iranian ballistic missiles.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its naval forces struck a US military fuel pier at Kuwait’s al-Ahmadi port and a US warplane assembly site at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain. The IRGC also said it attacked a US base in Azraq, Jordan, and claimed it destroyed two American fighter jets. Those claims were not independently confirmed in the accounts cited.
Iranian officials had warned that Tehran would respond to US attacks on Iranian infrastructure by striking civilian infrastructure across the Gulf. International humanitarian law prohibits attacks directed at civilian infrastructure.
Strait of Hormuz dispute fuels conflict
The fighting follows the collapse of a mid-June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran. US President Donald Trump said at a NATO summit in Ankara 10 days earlier that the understanding was “over” after Iranian attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al Jazeera.
Trump reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and revoked a sanctions waiver for Iranian oil exports. Iran says the interim deal gave it authority to control maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and set routes for ships passing through the waterway, a key channel for global energy shipments.
Trump has said the strait must remain open to all traffic, while the US Navy is blockading Iranian vessels. Tehran has so far refused to accept Washington’s terms or return to talks, according to Al Jazeera.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.