US-Iran strikes damage water and power sites

Water and power facilities in Iran and Kuwait were hit as the United States and Iran traded another round of strikes, disrupting drinking water for thousands and raising pressure on civilians enduring temperatures above 100 degrees.

In southern Iran, about 10,000 people in 20 villages faced disrupted water supplies Saturday after a desalination plant in Bonji, also spelled Bunji, was hit, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Hamzeh Pour, chief executive of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, said a seawater pumping station and a power transformer at the plant in Jask were “completely destroyed,” according to Tasnim.

“As a result of the attack, the supply of drinking water to several villages in western Jask County has been disrupted,” the Embassy of Iran in India said in a post on X, calling the strike a war crime.

The U.S. Central Command said late Friday it had completed a seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iranian “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities,” as well as other assets. It did not disclose any strikes on civilian infrastructure.

Iran retaliated with drones and missiles aimed at U.S.-allied Gulf states. Kuwait said Saturday it intercepted Iranian missiles and drones, temporarily suspended its airspace and later announced that Kuwait Airways would reschedule most commercial flights. The country said two power and water desalination plants were hit by Iranian attacks, and firefighters were wounded while responding to a fire, according to Kuwait’s firefighting force.

Kuwait’s energy ministry urged residents to ration power during peak hours after a strike on a power and water desalination plant caused a fire, the second such attack in two days. Kuwait’s Petroleum Corporation said Iran targeted one of its vital sites, causing several injuries and “significant material losses.” Defense ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Al-Otaibi said there was “severe damage” to oil and electricity facilities, while the foreign ministry said Iran’s targeting of “vital facilities” showed a “systematic and aggressive approach aimed at civilian targets.”

The attacks come as Kuwait faces summer temperatures above 110 degrees in an arid climate, making any disruption to power or water especially severe.

Bahrain said it intercepted Iranian missiles Saturday morning, and air raid sirens sounded repeatedly as authorities urged residents to seek shelter. Jordanian authorities said they intercepted Iranian attacks; Al Jazeera reported that officials said 10 Iranian ballistic missiles were intercepted. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its forces targeted a U.S. military fuel pier at Kuwait’s al-Ahmadi port, a U.S. warplane assembly site at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base and a U.S. base in Azraq, Jordan. The IRGC claimed at least two U.S. fighter jets were destroyed in Jordan, according to Tasnim. NBC News said it could not verify that claim.

The strikes followed the collapse of an interim ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran. U.S. President Donald Trump declared 10 days ago that the peace deal was over after Iranian attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reported. The U.S. reimposed a naval blockade, and Iran declared the strait closed, bringing shipping traffic largely to a halt after a brief surge.

The waterway remains central to the dispute. Tehran wants ships to use a route closer to Iran’s coast and pay a toll, while Washington has advised a route closer to Oman without Iranian control.

Trump said Thursday in a national address, “We are likewise winning big in Iran,” adding, “You will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly.”

Iranian officials said recent U.S. strikes have killed at least 46 people and injured more than 400. Iran also reported strikes on power infrastructure, Qeshm island and Chabahar port, where India operates a terminal. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it was aware of the Chabahar attack but “the terminal itself did not face any damage.”