‘Heavy damage’ to Iran water, energy systems from air strikes

2026-03-22 - 14:31

Iranians collect their belongings from damaged residential buildings in southern Tehran as a joint US-Israeli military operation continues to target locations and infrastructure across the country. (EPA Images pic) TEHRAN: Iran’s critical water and energy infrastructure have suffered extensive damage due to US and Israeli strikes on tens of thousands of civilian sites, officials said on Sunday. Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on Feb 28, killing the Islamic republic’s supreme leader and sparking a war that has since spread across the Middle East. “The country’s vital water and electricity infrastructure has suffered heavy damage following terrorist and cyber attacks by the United States and the Zionist regime,” said energy minister Abbas Aliabadi, according to ISNA news agency. “The attacks targeted dozens of water transmission and treatment facilities and destroyed parts of critical water supply networks,” he noted, adding that efforts were under way to repair the damage. Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Kolivand said the total number of damaged civilian sites “has reached 81,365 based on the latest field assessments”. He said the figure includes residential and commercial units, schools, medical centres and vehicles. “Behind every damaged unit stands a family, a life, a memory, a livelihood, and a future that has collapsed beneath the rubble of war and violence,” he added. AFP has not been able to access sites or verify the figures outside of the Iranian capital, but journalists in Tehran have reported damage to multiple residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure. More than 1,200 Iranians have been killed in US and Israeli strikes, according to the latest toll from Iran’s health ministry on March 8, which could not be independently verified. On Sunday, ISNA news agency reported that strikes had damaged a hospital in the southern city of Ahvaz, in Khuzestan province. Other media, including Fars news agency, showed images of rescuers pulling bodies from the rubble of destroyed buildings in the northern city of Tabriz. It was not immediately clear when those strikes took place. Earlier on Sunday, US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran’s power plants if it failed to reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. Traffic through the vital strait — through which 20 percent of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes — has been brought to a near-standstill since the start of the war. Iranian forces have attacked multiple vessels, saying they failed to heed “warnings” against transiting the waterway. In recent days, Iran has allowed some vessels from countries it considers friendly to pass, while warning it would block ships from countries it says have joined the “aggression” against it. In response to Trump, Iran threatened to target energy infrastructure and desalination plants across the region.