On July 17, 2026, a US military strike hit a desalination plant in Bunji, Jask county, on Iran’s southern coast. The immediate result: roughly 10,000 people across 20 to 30 villages lost access to drinking water in summer heat. The market result: Bitcoin fell below $100,000 and traders absorbed over $700 million in liquidations.
What happened on the ground
The strike damaged seawater intake and pumping stations along with a power transformer at the Jask facility, according to Hamzeh Pour, CEO of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company. Iranian state media outlet IRNA, citing Jask governor Mohammad Jamaleddini, reported emergency water tankers began rolling into affected villages on July 18.
Jask sits in Hormozgan province, hugging the Strait of Hormuz. About 20% of the world’s traded oil passes through it, which gives the geography an outsized weight in any risk calculation.
Iranian MP Abdolkarim Hashemi also weighed in publicly, framing the strike as a deliberate attack on civilian infrastructure. Iranian officials have called the targeting of water supplies a humanitarian violation.
