Iran Accuses US of War Crime After Strikes on Water Infrastructure

(MENAFN) Iran's Foreign Ministry accused American forces on Wednesday of deliberately targeting civilian water infrastructure in the country's south, alleging that strikes on Hormozgan province cut off drinking water to more than 20,000 residents across ten villages.

Spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said US forces struck water facilities in Sirik, destroying two reservoirs with a combined storage capacity of 2,500 cubic meters. In a post on X, he condemned the attack in unequivocal terms.

"Water is the pulse of life -- and the U.S. is deliberately targeting the lifeblood of the Iranian people," he wrote. "This is not collateral damage -- it is a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law," Baqaei said, calling for Washington to be held accountable "for systematic brutal attacks on civilian life-sustaining infrastructure."

The strikes were part of a broader American military operation launched in response to the downing of a US Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz, which subsequently triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on US-linked targets in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.

The latest escalation is rooted in a cycle of confrontation that began on February 28, when joint Israeli and US strikes on Iran set off a chain of retaliatory attacks and diplomatic disputes across the region. Iran and Israel also exchanged direct strikes in recent days before both sides pulled back, exposing the fragility of existing ceasefire arrangements and underscoring the urgency of international mediation efforts.

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