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Commentary by David Michel; Originally published by CSIS Published March 19, 2026 The economies of the Persian Gulf countries depend on oil and natural gas. Their populations depend on desalinated water. Nature endows the Arabian Peninsula with scant freshwater resources. Consequently, all of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations lining the Gulf’s southern shores critically rely on desalination plants drawing seawater from the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea.

Iran struck US military targets in four countries, hitting a fuel pier in Kuwait and an air base in Bahrain, as a seventh night of American strikes on Iran's Gulf coast cut water supplies and destroyed bridges.

Iran struck US military targets in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia overnight as American forces completed a seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iranian territory, officials on both sides said on July 18. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in its 28th wartime statement that naval units had hit a fuel support pier used by the US fleet at Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi port, a concentration of American combat aircraft at Shaikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, and a data centre in Bahrain operated by Batelco, the kingdom's main telecoms operator. The IRGC said its forces had also destroyed a US signals and communications facility in Kuwait, describing the strikes as the 19th wave of its Operation Nasr 2, and said it retained control of the Strait of Hormuz. Mina Al-Ahmadi, Kuwait's principal oil export terminal, is the site of the US Navy's bunkering programme supplying fuel to American government vessels in the Gulf. Shaikh Isa, in southern Bahrain, is the main base of the Royal Bahraini Air Force and has hosted US Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force deployments since the 1991 Gulf War. Iran's regular army said separately that loitering munitions had struck aircraft shelters and fuel storage at Shaikh Isa in the 15th phase of its own campaign, codenamed Saeqeh, or Thunderbolt, and claimed hits on several bridges in Bahrain. Neither Bahraini nor US officials have commented on damage or casualties at the base. Kuwait's army confirmed missile and drone attacks on several military sites and critical infrastructure. Air raid sirens sounded over the emirate for a fifth time, Kuwaiti airspace was closed and most flights were rescheduled. The Kuwaiti defence ministry told residents that explosions heard overhead were air defence systems engaging incoming fire. Bahrain's interior ministry activated sirens and told residents to move to the nearest safe location. US Central Command said the seventh night of strikes on Iran ended at 05:00 Tehran time, targeting surveillance centres, logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and naval capabilities. Iranian outlets reported American strikes on Larak Island, an IRGC naval outpost in the Strait of Hormuz, and on targets around Bandar Abbas and Jask on the Hormozgan coast. Two bridges on the road linking Bandar Abbas to Rudan were destroyed, killing an unspecified number of people and injuring several others, according to the Tasnim news agency, which published video from the scene. Missiles also hit electrical installations and desalination pumps at the pier of Bonji village near Jask, Hormozgan's deputy governor for political, security and social affairs said, cutting water supplies to several villages. The extent of damage and casualties there has not been established. The exchanges mark the broadest geographic spread of Iranian retaliation since the American air campaign began, with strikes now confirmed or claimed across four US partner states hosting American forces.

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During a Senate hearing a senator asked why THAAD air-defense assets were being moved from South Korea and why personnel were evacuated after strikes on Gulf countries, calling the attacks "foreseeable." An agency official said the response was reviewed and "accounted for."