NEWS
Trump threatens Iran's water and power plants. It wouldn't be the first time — and it would be a war crime.
July 2026
The facts
On July 8, 2026, the ceasefire reached between the United States and Iran on June 17 collapses — a memorandum of understanding that guaranteed free, toll-free passage through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, leaving it to Iran and Oman to jointly define the 'future administration of maritime services' beyond that period, a clause that leaves the possibility of future tolls open and contested. Within that free-passage window, on July 6-7 the IRGC struck three commercial vessels in Omani waters — the Qatari LNG tanker Al Rekayyat, the Saudi tanker Wedyan, and the Cyprus Prosperity — for failing to follow a route Iran claims the right to unilaterally approve. Lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi announced legislation to formalize Iranian management of the strait, declaring that any arrangement without Tehran's coordination is 'doomed to fail': a declared strategy, not an isolated act. The attacks took place on the fifth day of funeral processions for Supreme Leader Khamenei — marked by crowds explicitly calling for revenge against Trump, and by turnout perceived domestically as disappointing; showing resolve over the strait also serves an internal cohesion function for a weakened leadership. A US official called it a 'gross violation' of the memorandum; Riyadh called it 'an assault on the security of international navigation.' The US responded with strikes on over 80 targets, including an attack on Kharg Island; Iran struck US installations in Bahrain and Kuwait. In Ankara, Trump confirmed the strike on Kharg ('Maybe we'll take over the island'), threatened desalination plants ('we'll take them out if we have to') and a naval blockade, called the Iranian leadership 'scum,' and on the truce: 'For me, I think it's over.'
Legal commentary
Deliberately striking desalination plants and civilian power grids means striking objects indispensable to the survival of the population, protected under Art. 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions: the laws of war allow striking dual-use infrastructure only when the military advantage clearly outweighs civilian harm — a very high bar. This is not the first time Trump has made this exact threat: in late March 2026 he spoke of 'completely obliterating' Iranian power plants, oil wells, and desalination plants, only to back off when negotiations seemed to progress. Asked then about the risk of a war crime, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt replied that the administration would 'always act within the confines of the law,' while confirming Trump would proceed 'unabated' — without explaining how striking desalination plants would serve that goal.
Implications — the symmetry test
The principle at stake here — civilian infrastructure indispensable to the population's survival is not to be struck, regardless of who threatens to do so — is the same one this site applies to any other wartime actor targeting civilian water or power grids. It does not change because it is spoken by the president of the power leading the Atlantic Alliance. But the symmetry must be completed: the Iranian attack on the ships was not random, but punishment for failing to follow a 'safe route' Iran claims the right to impose unilaterally, within the free, toll-free passage window the June agreement guaranteed for 60 days. Striking third-country merchant ships (Qatar, Saudi Arabia) to enforce it is not an application of the current agreement: it is a violation of it. Neither side comes out of this clean, and neither deserves to be presented as the one resisting the other's abuse: Iran here is pursuing its own strategic interest — control of a strait through which a fifth of the world's oil passes — by means that strike third-country civilians, not a principle of resistance.
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