Kuwait’s electricity and water ministry used a blunt phrase for what happened to one of its power and desalination plants in mid-July: a “criminal Iranian attack.” The strike set off a fire. Engineers took several generating units offline as a precaution, to keep the national grid stable, and firefighting and repair crews went to work.
It was not the first hit that week. Khaleej Times reported on July 18 that a similar strike a day earlier had damaged another combined power and desalination station, started a fire there and disrupted several generating units. The ministry told residents to save power, above all in the hours from 11am to 5pm, while recovery work went on. Kuwait’s Fire Force said it was dealing with two separate blazes after the Iranian attacks, and that one worker and several firefighters were injured at the first site, which was cleared. Kuwait Airways rescheduled most of its flights after the country closed its airspace on July 18.
Another round on Monday
Reuters, in a report carried on July 21, described fresh attacks on Kuwaiti power and desalination plants on Monday. Again, units were switched off as a precaution and authorities said repairs were underway. By Tuesday the Iranian army said it had launched drone attacks on three U.S. military bases in Kuwait. Reuters noted that the strikes on desalination facilities across the Gulf had raised concerns about water shortages.
The fighting sits inside a bigger collapse. Reuters said the escalating attacks had nearly destroyed an interim peace deal from the month before, and Khaleej Times dated the war to February 28, with a fragile ceasefire reached after a 14-point deal on June 12. Washington said its forces had hit Iranian command centers, launch sites and air defences. Oil prices rose nearly 2%, though signs that Tehran and Washington wanted to resume talks held the gains down.
A known weak point
Desalination plants were a target earlier in this war, too. On March 30, Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity said an Iranian strike hit a service building inside a combined power and desalination complex, killing an Indian worker and wrecking the structure. Iran claimed that day that Israel was behind the strike, though Kuwait’s own statement blamed Iran. The day before, Kuwait’s Defence Ministry reported 14 missiles and 12 drones in its airspace, with 10 servicemen injured at a military camp.
Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Dubai, explained why Gulf governments worry. Gulf states account for 40 percent of the world’s desalinated water, he said, and the cities there drink it. It is also one of the driest parts of the world, Al Jazeera noted.
Sources
- Fire breaks out at Kuwait power and desalination plant after Iranian attack (Khaleej Times)
- Iran's forces attack Bahrain and Kuwait after US hits Iranian ports and cities (Reuters via Hindustan Times)
- Iranian attack damages Kuwait power and desalination plant, kills worker (Al Jazeera)
