Over the last five weeks, strikes have already hit desalination facilities in Iran, Bahrain and Kuwait, killing at least one worker and forcing Iranian authorities to truck water by tanker to some villages left without supply. Experts have warned that the US president’s threats, along with the recent attacks, risk escalating the conflict into a water war across the Gulf – with catastrophic consequences.

The Gulf states, in particular, are highly dependent on more than 400 desalination plants that line the coastline of the Arabian Peninsula. Without them, cities like Dubai, Doha, Kuwait City and Riyadh, home to tens of millions of people, could not exist. But Iran is also acutely vulnerable to potential attacks on water infrastructure – its water system was already teetering on the brink of collapse before the war broke out. Escalation could be catastrophic for the Gulf states. Kuwait relies on desalination for 90 per cent of its drinking water, Bahrain for 95 per cent, and Qatar for 99 per cent.