Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy has confirmed damage to a service building at a power and water distillation plant following an Iranian attack, in which an Indian worker was killed.
Ministry spokesperson Fatima Jawhar Hayat said emergency and technical teams responded immediately, activating contingency plans to contain the impact and secure the site, reported the governmental Kuwait News Agency on Sunday in an X post.
She added that operations across the country’s electricity and water network remain stable, with “operation efficiency” continuing in coordination with security authorities.
The incident underscores growing concerns over the vulnerability of critical infrastructure in the Gulf, particularly desalination facilities that supply most of the region’s drinking water.
The attack comes against a backdrop of escalating regional conflict amid the US-Israel war with Iran. Iran has intensified strikes on Gulf states following international condemnation, targeting infrastructure including airports, oil facilities and desalination plants across the region.
Kuwait operates several major integrated power and desalination plants across the country, including facilities at Shuaiba, Doha, Sabiya and Al Zour, which together form the backbone of its utilities network.
The country is heavily reliant on desalination, with about 90 per cent of its drinking water produced from seawater, making such facilities critical to national security and daily life.
The broader conflict is reverberating through global energy markets. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s chief executive Sheikh Nawaf Al Sabah has warned that Iran is effectively “holding the world economy hostage” last week during CERAWeek in Houston, as attacks on infrastructure and shipping routes disrupt supplies and push oil prices higher.
This comes after Kuwait's Mina Al Ahmadi refinery was struck for a second time on March 20th by Iranian drone strikes, another indication of the escalating Middle East conflict and increasing uncertainty in the global energy sector.
Neighbouring Iraq has been particularly affected, with repeated strikes forcing shutdowns of oil production and exports, highlighting the broader economic fallout of the war.
Kuwaiti authorities have stressed that, despite the latest incident, essential services remain uninterrupted as efforts continue to safeguard infrastructure amid mounting regional tensions.
