Worrying reports of Iran attacks on Kuwait and wider regional tensions

[Ihatetomatoes]

Iran is firing at various countries tonight, Saudi and Kuwait.

Kuwait confirms its main border crossing with Iraq has come under repeated attack.

Seems Iran wants to drag in other countries. Hitting a border crossing between Iraq and Kuwait isn't US targets.

It doesn't feel like the situation is improving at all. I feel for the people in the middle of this.

The Houthis claim they have hit 2 Saudi ships. Who dragged/encouraged them to join in, not happy to wreck their own country they are firing at Saudi.

I agree that the widening of the conflict to other countries in the Middle East is concerning. Iran doesn't seem to care about how much damage they do to neighbouring countries.

I know why they are doing it, which is that they can't hit the US so they are attacking countries they can hit and that are affiliated with the US. But don't they care about becoming isolated in the region ... apparently not.

Water anxieties in a desert region

Bahrain and Kuwait already saw Iranian strikes against their desalination plants back in March. But by striking these plants in the middle of summer, Iran has dealt a particularly painful blow to Kuwait.

Kuwait has virtually no freshwater resources and 90 percent of its drinking water is generated by seawater desalination plants. Moreover, Kuwait relies on cogeneration to produce both electricity and desalinated water at the same plant; with a single strike, Iran can cut off both water and power.

Since the US and Israel launched the war in Iran on February 28, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian have tried to “reassure” their Arab neighbours. The regional states are “brothers”, Pezeshkian reiterated in March, stating that the purpose of Iranian strikes on Muslim land was only ever to target US interests.

However, "when a desalination plant is targeted, especially in Kuwait, the first victim is not Washington but the civilian population", noted Rachida-Chachida Ababsa, an independent researcher specialising in US policy in the Middle East.

https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260723-why-iran-targeting-kuwaits-desalination-plants

From the BBC:

The Gulf Arab states, in normal times a haven of low-crime tranquillity and minimal taxation, are having to learn to live with constant attacks from their well-armed neighbour across the water: the Islamic Republic of Iran.

And now the Iran-backed Houthis of Yemen have entered the fray, after a 2022 ceasefire with neighbouring Saudi Arabia appeared to have broken down.

Two Saudi vessels were hit by missiles in the Red Sea this week, while the Houthis claim to have turned back 10 others after warning ships to avoid Saudi ports, disrupting shipping passing through the strategic Bab El Mandeb Strait that links the southern end of the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean.

This matters because, on top of the ongoing disruption to global energy and fertiliser supplies caused by Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, it is a further obstacle to vital maritime trade that will soon impact the global economy.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgve0vxy1yo

Well this escalation is probably because Trump is bombing the shit out of Iran day after day. The peace plan broke down because Trump’s negotiators apparently agreed to things in the memorandum that they then walked back on. Trump has a habit of changing deals after they’ve been agreed- ask Saudi Arabia about the nuclear deal. Anyway it was all inevitable and entirely predictable right from the start of this totally pointless war - started by Israel and America, it’s achieved nothing but death (including those school girls killed by America), destruction and enormous economic damage to most of the world. Yeah thanks Netanyahu and Trump we all really needed this 🙄🙄

The Houthis are funded by the IRGC, both politically and with weapons, same as Hamas and Hezbollah, that's why. All part of the same cancer.

The US is still ramping up this war to hit Iran even harder but at the same time Trump's always watching the price of oil so it doesn't go too high! Not sure where actual human lives factor into his calculations, unless of course it's American lives.

Human lives do not seem a high priority on the side of the US or Iran.

Iran dragging other countries into the war who did nothing to deserve it and who tried to stay out if it by not picking a side.

Trump needs to stop and we need to stop allowing him to use our bases.

There needs to be mass protest about Burnham allowing Trump to use our airbases. Now.

Im so worried about this

I'm wondering what, if anything, would be enough provocation for any of these Gulf countries to hit Iran back?

And still endlessly surprised at the folly of Trump.

Some of them aren't very powerful, like Kuwait. Maybe the GCC countries should club together in a pact, like NATO?

Kuwait unable to retaliate

Iranian media had reported Tehran’s plans to target cogeneration infrastructure as early as the end of January, said Clément Therme, a researcher at the International Institute for Iranian Studies.

Scarred by the trauma of the Gulf War, Kuwait has remained wary of regional geopolitical alignments. The ruling Al-Sabah dynasty has opposed normalisation with Israel but also refrained from threatening rhetoric towards Tehran, in contrast to several of its neighbours.

Nevertheless, Kuwait has been targeted by some 1,400 Iranian missile and drone attacks since February, according to an Israeli think tank, making it the most targeted country after the United Arab Emirates.

“There is no connection between a country’s political stance and being targeted by Iran,” said Therme.

Kuwait and the US interests stationed there are targeted because Kuwait “has no armed forces capable of retaliating … it is not going to go to war with Iran”, Therme said.

Kuwait’s vulnerability “allows Iran to inflict a cost on it without incurring any military consequences on its own territory”.

^https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260723-why-iran-targeting-kuwaits-desalination-plants^

I dislike Trump intensely but on Iran he’s right. Millions of people across lebanon, yemen, iraq etc are affected by militias funded, trained and supported by Iran. Getting rid of the IRGC would have a massive stabilisation impact on many parts of the middle east.

I agree they are all part of the same cancer that spread throughout the area. The cancer is really tough to kill off since it isn't concerned if innocents die so they can further their aims.

I agree no one appears to be concerned about human life, the price of oil might be what halts the conflict.

They have amazing restraint considering Iran has targeted them, (desalination plants etc) rather than US bases. Although, some wouldn't have the fire power that Iran has built up. It must be awful for people living there.

They are. The terrorist organisations funded or trained or backed by Iran have fone no good in the middle east and keep it stuck in perpetual conflict.

There have been reports of unidentified and unclaimed limited strikes on Iran which I assume are the UAE of kuwait but at a very low level.

Kuwait has a very small population so I can’t imagine they have a vey large standing army either. They are apparently in talks with Pakistan as well since Iran threatened a ground invasion, they would have to get through Iraq first but I’m sure the kuwaitis never thought they would be invaded by Iraq either so best to be prepared.

Not sure about Pakistan, they have a defence pact with the Saudis and I’m not sure if the Saudis have called for their assistance yet. Pakistan is already at war with Afghanistan though so not sure if they have the capacity if they were asked to basically fight for Saudi, Kuwait and themselves. They have a decent sized army and they have actual experience having said that I think the UAE can probably handle themselves well (they did fine against the houthis) and they have definitely been involved in attacks on Iran after they were targeted.

The only people I’ve seen getting upset about this are people who basically support third worldist ideology or who don’t understand anything thats going on.

Personally I’m happy to see the complete and utter annihilation of any regime that allows men to marry 9yr old girls and routinely rapes women before executing them. I never thought I’d be cheering on American military action but there you go…

Also I’ve seen the North Korea explanation for Irans nuclear strategy, it goes something like this, you build up a conventional arsenal which is intimidating enough to your neighbours that no-one wamts to get into it woth you, then you build a nuke and you basically establish a nuclear deterrence which will guarantee you a fortress base. This would allow Iran to basically threaten anyone who objects to it’s proxies operating wherever they want. DH made a good point about russia, it has a middling economy, a dictator, people often live in abject poverty yet russia always has a seat at the table, because it has nukes., we can’t just ignore it and everyones terrified of directly confronting it because of the possible cost.

I think it’s dawning on the khaleejis as well that Iran’s regional strategy may have been aimed more at dominating the gulf states than Israel all this time. It’s interesting because I have repeatedly heard “israel just wants to dominate the middle east” and I was thinking they don’t just want to, they do, in terms of military and intelligence prowess, technological development, mature legal system etc. they were all looking the wrong way because they assumed that what Iran said was true. Lets be honest if Iran can hit Jordan it can hit Israel, yet all it’s ire has been targeted at small gulf countries. It should help people who support the axis of resistance pause for thought but it won’t in my experience.

You make good points. All look at Israel whilst Iran's proxies cause harm in many countries and also attack whom some believe want to 'dominate the world' (its actually been stated on other threads).

Iran do treat many of their people poorly, others might argue the people support the regime, maybe some do, but child marriage, women being less than, etc, I'm glad I wasn't born into that type of country. Incredibly lucky for our freedoms and equality and laws to protect us.

To be fair, Iran are attempting to bend the whole middle east to its way of thinking, we will attack all of you, whether you have done any harm to us, or not, if you don't support us. Otherwise, why attack a desalination plant in Kuwait on more than one occasion. Its supposed fight is with the US, but it prefers to attack smaller countries.

Quote : "Otherwise, why attack a desalination plant in Kuwait on more than one occasion. Its supposed fight is with the US, but it prefers to attack smaller countries."

I am not defending Iran here, but strategically it does make sense for them to strike Kuwait, because there are approx 13.5k US troops there, which include " three major bases—Camp Arifjan, Ali Al Salem Air Base, and Camp Buehring—which collectively function as the logistical backbone for all US Central Command (CENTCOM) operations spanning from Egypt to Afghanistan."

Source for Italicized part:

US Military Base in Kuwait 2026 | Statistics & Facts - The World Data

And yes, even striking desal plants is strategically ok, and not an automatic war crime if the desal plants feed into these bases.

There is a bit of a potential double standard here. Because some nations say it is ok to strike civilian areas because the military is hiding there. Or embedded as it's often described. And we do know from earlier in the war that in the UAE ( I think), the US had put it's troops into hotels and empty offices because of damage to a US base there.

There was a strike on the Kuwait airport earlier too. And it turns out the target was a CIA depot in the airport. Effectively, the US was embedded in civvie areas. And it is basically not being very well reported what is hit. So we don't really know what the target is. I think we only found out about the Kuwait airport target because some troops were killed.

Looking at it objectively, the aim in any war is to deprive the enemy of resources. And both sides are doing that.

Attacking desalination plants in a country like Kuwait where 90% of its drinking water is generated by seawater desalination plants is almost definitely a war crime. At the very least it's an extremely aggressive act that will negatively affect civilians hugely.

@RedTagAlan "I am not defending Iran here" followed by several paragraphs justifying why it actually is "strategically ok" for Iran to target Kuwait's desalination plants.

Talking about double standards while exhibiting them. You know, it is ok sometimes to just criticise the IRGC, like those on the board who you see as pro West (or pro Trump) have acknowledged that it probably is a war crime when the US attack civilian infrastructure too.

I agree that @Bringemout raises good points and I too would be happy to see the complete and utter annihilation of any regime that allows men to marry 9yr old girls and routinely rapes women before executing them.

The IRGC are the most disgusting regime who seem to have no redeeming qualities at all - they are vile and oppressive to their own people as well as constantly starting wars in other countries via their proxies. Why anyone wants to spend their days defending or minimising their actions is hard to understand. Yes Trump is awful along with many in his government, but not as bad as the IRGC! The world would be a safer place without the so-called axis of resistance. Axis of terror, more like.

The only thing I question in @Bringemout post is the statement that "if Iran can hit Jordan it can hit Israel". Yes it could but also to be honest, Iran know that Israel has a huge defender in the US so are probably trying to somewhat limit the US response by attacking other, weaker countries in the ME instead.

Both Iran and the US are still showing some restraint at this stage although it is escalating of course to a worrying degree.

Understanding the war with Iran 101.

Who dragged Iran into this war?

I have done this process for when desal plants were hit in another Gulf country. And there was not much info, but lets try it for Kuwait.

Does the US have it's own desal plants in Kuwait ? And it appears not.

"Camp Buehring, a United States military base nestled in northern Kuwait just 20 miles from the Iraqi border, faces a challenge: there are no wells, rivers or other easily accessible sources of water.In this arid region, water is a precious commodity. Soldiers rely on trucks to deliver the water they need for showers, drinking and flushing toilets"

So for that base anyway, it is trucked in. The article goes on : "“They have to bring in all their water,” said Jeremiah Gilbert, a distributed energy power systems engineer at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). “It can get really expensive, so we wanted to look at ways they could recycle water. "

So for that base, they need to truck it in, and it is expensive. I would say that is a pretty good indicator that the US is using civvie water at that base. Source for that is an article from last year from the Idaho National lab.

Water resiliency at Camp Buehring: INL's innovative water reclamation system - Idaho National Laboratory

Now in my book, if the US military has a base in such an arid place, and it does not want to be "embedded" in anyway shape or form, then they should have their own desal plant, or water source.

There is also a France 24 article from yesterday. And see what Iran says :

"Tehran justifies these attacks by citing the US military presence in the country. With some 13,000 American troops on its soil, Kuwait hosts one of the largest US contingents in the region."

Why Iran is targeting Kuwait's desalination plants as part of its war strategy - France 24

Yes. Hitting desal plants is not good. But look at it objectively. If Iran want to get US forces out of Kuwait, then from a military point of view, their action makes sense. This is asymmetric warfare after all.

And no, this is not me defending Iran, this is me explaining why what they are doing makes sense. Denying resources from enemy forces is as old as war itself.

I like the way channel 4 news consistently refer to it as “this war of choice” as in Israel and America literally chose to start a war. A war that the rest of the world is paying a price for.