File Photo: A satellite view of Qeshm Island. Photo courtesy of ESA.
"One of the desalination plants on Qeshm Island was targeted... and is now completely out of service, as it is not possible to repair it in the short term," the ISNA news agency reported, quoting health ministry official Mohsen Farhadi.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said a strike had taken place there on March 7, accusing the US of a "blatant and desperate crime" launched from its military base in Bahrain.
Qeshm is the largest Iranian island in the Gulf, stretching for around one hundred kilometres across the Strait of Hormuz.
It has become a popular tourist destination in recent years for Iranians thanks to its rare UNESCO-listed rock formations and turquoise waters.
There have been several attacks on desalination plants in the ongoing war, sparked by coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
Bahrain reported an Iranian strike on a facility on March 8, apparent retaliation for the US hit on Qeshm the day before.
Kuwait reported an Iranian attack on a desalination and electricity plant on Monday, which Tehran blamed on Israel.
“The brutal aggression by the Israeli regime against Kuwait’s desalination plant, carried out in recent hours under the pretext of accusing the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sign of the vileness and depravity of the Zionist occupiers,” said Khatam Al-Anbiya spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari.
The Middle East is among the driest regions in the world, with many countries dependent on desalination plants for domestic and industrial water supplies.
US President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to "obliterate" Iran's power infrastructure, oil wells and "possibly all desalination plants."
That would likely draw a tit-for-tat reaction from Tehran that would escalate the conflict dramatically.
Desalinated water provides 42 per cent of drinking water in the United Arab Emirates, 70 per cent in Saudi Arabia, 86 per cent in Oman, and 90 per cent in Kuwait, according to a 2022 report from the French Institute of International Relations think tank.
Some analysts have warned that Gulf states would see an attack on their critical water infrastructure as a reason to enter the war directly against Iran.
They have so far remained on the sidelines of the conflict, sustaining damage from Iranian retaliation attacks while hosting US bases used for operations against Tehran.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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