U.N. Water Expert Decries Strikes on Iran Oil Sites, Warns of Threats to Desalination Plants
A leading U.N. water scientist has warned that the war in Iran is intensifying environmental harm across one of the world’s most water‑stressed regions, condemning strikes on oil infrastructure and threats to desalination plants that supply civilian water.
Kaveh Madani, director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, said the conflict’s fallout will be felt for years and urged broader public resistance to the long‑term ecological costs of global warfare. More than a month into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, concerns have mounted over impacts on human health, land and marine ecosystems, aquifers and the climate.
Among incidents cited in the war’s early weeks, Israel bombed oil facilities around Tehran, igniting fires that burned for hours and sent a thick cloud of toxic smoke over the city of 10 million. Residents reported breathing difficulties as black raindrops containing toxic chemicals fell across the capital.
Madani discussed threats to civil water infrastructure in the Gulf region and said the Strait of Hormuz crisis underscores consumer countries’ overreliance on oil and gas.
He also highlighted his prize‑winning research into the global effects of “water bankruptcy.” “All the weapons that have been produced have had carbon footprints — the missiles that fly, the jets, the tanks that are burned, the oil fields that are being attacked and the gas fields that are being burned.
All of these are producing a lot of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
“They are going to impact us in the long term.” On Monday, President Trump threatened to blow up desalination plants in Iran, writing on Truth Social that if the Strait of Hormuz is not “Open for Business,” he would “blow up and completely obliterate” electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, and “possibly all desalinization plants.” Madani tied the antiwar and climate struggles together, calling for wider popular resistance to policies and actions that compound environmental damage during conflict.
Madani, a former Iranian politician and recipient of the 2026 Stockholm Water Prize, said protecting civilian water systems must be a priority. As the war’s emissions, contamination and infrastructure risks accumulate, he warned, the region’s environmental burden will only grow.