Iran strikes US allies as seventh night of American bombing cuts water to 10,000

Ten thousand people in 20 villages in southern Iran have been left without drinking water after a US strike destroyed a desalination plant in Jask county, as the seventh consecutive night of American bombing pounded the country. Hamzeh Pour, chief executive of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, said the pumping station and a power transformer had been “completely destroyed”, leaving the area facing “a severe water shortage”. The US military said it had hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities” in strikes that ended at 21:30 ET. But as those bombs fell, Iran retaliated against Washington’s Gulf allies. Kuwait reported that an Iranian attack sparked a fire at a power and desalination plant, with some generation units deactivated and an oil facility suffering “significant damage” and injuries. The country’s international airport suspended operations after what authorities called “hostile missile and drone attacks”. Jordan’s military said it intercepted 10 Iranian missiles, while Bahrain said it had “thwarted” attacks – though Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed they had targeted US combat aircraft at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base. In Iran itself, the bombing has gone beyond military targets. More than 100 telecommunications masts have been knocked out, disrupting services in northern Hormozgan province. And in a deliberate escalation, the US destroyed five bridges around the critical port city of Bandar Abbas, cutting road and rail links that carry roughly 85% of the nation’s container traffic and 70% of its transit trade. The city of 500,000 people is now almost completely isolated. Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official, said there was “a growing conclusion inside the Pentagon” that cutting off the port was the only way to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas once passed. The US has also re-imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports, and Iran has declared the strait closed. President Donald Trump declared the June ceasefire “over” last week after talks made no headway, and with each night of strikes the conflict risks cutting deeper into the region’s water and energy supplies – leaving the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, to voice concerns about global energy security.