Recent missile attacks have raised concerns that desalination plants could be caught in the crossfire.
By Nathan Morley The war in the Middle East has already triggered a global energy crisis, but officials now warn it could also spark a water emergency across the Gulf. After fuel, water is emerging as a strategic and vulnerable target. Recent Iranian attacks on Gulf states — including missile and drone strikes near industrial zones and energy infrastructure — have raised concerns that desalination plants could be caught in the crossfire. Nearly 40 million people in the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries rely on desalinated water, according to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. The Middle East is one of the driest regions in the world, and desalination is essential for drinking water and agriculture across Israel and the Gulf. Fear are that any strike on energy plants would immediately disrupt desalination operations, which depend on continuous power. Furthermore, a prolonged outage could leave millions without reliable access to drinking water within hours, not days. Another worry is that contamination of Gulf waters — whether from damaged infrastructure, oil leaks or military activity — would directly affect desalination plants, which draw untreated seawater from the Persian Gulf.