What I Found Underground in Abu Dhabi While Reading About Iran's Attacks on Gulf Desalination Plants

Personal analysis. Not investment advice. Geopolitical data from Wikipedia, Al Jazeera, Xinhua. Infrastructure data from DEWA, ADSSC, WaterWorld, MEED. March 2026. On February 28, 2026, the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran. From the start, the conflict went in an unexpected direction. Targets were not just military sites — desalination plants started getting hit. On March 7, a plant on Iran's Qeshm Island was attacked (Iran blamed the US; the US and Israel denied it). The next day, an Iranian drone struck a desalination facility in Bahrain. In Fujairah, UAE, the port and oil storage facilities took direct hits, triggering fires and suspending oil operations. One researcher put it plainly: "Oil built the Persian Gulf. Desalinated water keeps it alive." That infrastructure is now part of the conflict. The "Dubai loses water in one strike" claim Social media has been circulating a story that Dubai is one attack away from a water crisis, because everything depends on Jebel Ali.