Key facts
- US strikes damaged water infrastructure in Iran's Jask county.
- Drinking water supply to 20 villages serving nearly 10,000 people has been disrupted.
- Iranian officials claim water pumping stations and power transformers were destroyed.
- The US stated its strikes targeted air defense and radar sites.
- A New York Times analysis suggested the water facility attack was a precision strike.
US missile strikes have damaged electricity infrastructure and desalination facilities in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, disrupting drinking water supplies to several villages, according to Iranian officials. The strikes targeted electricity infrastructure and desalination pumps in the village of Bonji in Jask, a coastal area overlooking the Gulf of Oman.
Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, CEO of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, stated that drinking water supply to 20 villages with a population of nearly 10,000 has been disrupted after US strikes damaged water desalination pumps. He described the US strikes as "a series of crimes and terrorist attacks" and said a pumping station for extracting water from the sea and a power transformer at the Bunji desalination plant were "completely destroyed".
Hormozgan Deputy Governor Ismail Dehestani said the attack caused interruptions to drinking water supplies in several villages in western Jask, leaving local authorities scrambling to restore essential services. Assessment teams have been deployed to determine the full extent of the damage, while emergency repair crews are working to restore electricity and water supplies.
An analysis by The New York Times indicated that the attack on drinking-water storage facilities appeared to be a precision strike by the US, raising questions about whether the Trump administration intentionally attacked civilian infrastructure. The Times noted that the buildings were remotely located with no other infrastructure in the vicinity, suggesting a likely precision strike. Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted a video of damage to one of the facilities, stating that these facilities supplied drinking water to more than 20,000 residents across ten villages and calling it a "calculated war crime".
US Central Command stated on social media that the US Air Force and Navy had used "precision munitions" to strike "Iranian air defense, ground control stations and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz." The bombing came as President Donald Trump complained that Tehran was taking too long to finalize a peace deal. The US and Iran have each carried out attacks this week, raising doubts about a ceasefire deal.