Strike on MAPNA Desalination Plant, Qeshm Island

On the night of Friday 6 March 2026 (15 Esfand 1404), a US airstrike, reported to have been launched from the American Jufair naval base in Bahrain, struck and destroyed the MAPNA (Water & Power Company) desalination facility on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Qeshm is Iran's largest island in the Persian Gulf and is entirely dependent on desalination for its freshwater supply, with no natural freshwater sources. The targeted plant was the island's principal freshwater production unit, supplying between 12,000 and 15,000 cubic metres of drinking water per day to the island and its dependent villages. Following the strike, the facility was rendered completely non-operational, with the Ministry of Health confirming it could not be repaired in the short term. Ahmad Nafisi, Political, Security and Social Deputy of Hormozgan Province, confirmed the attack and stated that water supply to approximately 30 villages in the central, Hara, and Shahab districts of Qeshm was severely disrupted. Mohsen Farhadi, head of the Environmental and Occupational Health Centre of Iran's Ministry of Health, confirmed the plant was completely taken out of service and that approximately 25 villages depended on it. Emergency tanker water distribution was immediately organised by Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, with health inspectors deployed to monitor water quality at all distribution points and residents advised to follow strict hygiene protocols identical to those of the COVID-19 period. Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi condemned the attack in a post on X, stating the US "committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island" and that "water supply in 30 villages has been impacted." Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf confirmed the strike was carried out with support from an air base in a southern neighbouring country.

Iran formally reported the attack in a letter to the UN Water Programme Director, citing Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (1977), which explicitly prohibits attacking, destroying, or rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population — including drinking water installations. Iran's Minister of Energy later announced that repair work had been completed and water supply to Qeshm was restored, though the timeframe for full restoration was not specified.