Iran condemns attack on desalination facility

Tehran, Iran — Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Saturday, 7 March, condemned the United States’ attack on a water desalination facility on Qeshm Island, southern Iran. He made the remarks in a post on X after the US reportedly destroyed the facility with missiles launched from its base in Jufair, Bahrain, on Friday, 6 March. “The US commits an outright and brazen crime by attacking the freshwater desalination facility on Qeshm Island. The water supply in 30 villages has been affected,” Araghchi said. He added that attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a “dangerous step with serious consequences.” The Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on his X account that the attack on the Qeshm desalination facility was carried out with the support of one of the southern neighbour’s air bases. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday said it retaliated against the US by striking a US base in Bahrain using precision-guided missiles powered by solid and liquid fuels. On 28 February, Israel and the US launched a joint strike on Tehran and several other Iranian cities. Iran responded with several waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases in the Middle East.