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The taboo on permanent power plant destruction didn't protect Iran. It protected America's allies.
On April 7, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Tonight, a civilization dies." He declared that if Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, he will destroy its power plants and bridges "never to be used again."
This threat contains a fatal structural error.
When the taboo on "permanent destruction of power plants" is broken in the Middle East, it is not Iran that loses its drinking water. It is America's allies and Israel.
Iran is one of the few Middle Eastern countries that can supply its own drinking water.
The Zagros Mountains to the west and the Alborz Mountains to the north feed rivers and groundwater through snowmelt. Tehran's drinking water comes from mountain dam systems including the Karaj Dam in the Alborz range. The majority of Iran's population lives in highland cities along these mountain ranges.
Southern Persian Gulf coastal cities do depend on desalination, but Iran's overall dependence on desalinated water is limited to only about 3–5% of total demand. The country's water supply is based on rivers, dams, and groundwater. Destroying power plants would stop water pumps, but the water sources themselves don't disappear. Even without electricity, gravity-fed supply and manual pumping can secure minimum water.
In other words, even if Iran's power plants are permanently destroyed, Iran's "civilization" can survive in terms of water. Painful, but not fatal.
So which Middle Eastern countries cannot supply their own water?
America's allies.
Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar — the GCC nations depend on seawater desalination for most of their drinking water. About 60% for Saudi Arabia, over 80% for UAE, and over 90% for Kuwait.
And these desalination plants are physically co-located with power plants. Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) uses waste heat from power turbines to evaporate seawater, and reverse osmosis systems are powered by the same generators. Power plants and desalination plants sit on the same site, connected by pipes and cables. Jubail in Saudi Arabia, Jebel Ali in UAE, Doha in Kuwait — all major facilities use this co-located design.
Bomb a power plant, and the desalination plant is destroyed simultaneously.
These countries have no mountains. No rivers. No dams. When desalination stops, drinking water disappears within days. There is no alternative.
Approximately 70–85% of Israel's drinking water comes from seawater desalination plants.
Five massive desalination plants — Sorek A & B, Hadera, Ashkelon, Palmachim, and Ashdod — line the Mediterranean coast as the nation's lifeline. Like the Gulf states, these facilities are intimately tied to energy infrastructure.
The Hadera desalination plant is built directly on the grounds of the "Orot Rabin" coal and gas power station, sharing infrastructure and supplying drinking water to over 1 million people. Sorek has a dedicated 70MW power plant co-located on-site. Ashkelon receives power directly from an adjacent dedicated combined-cycle co-generation plant.
Israel is a far smaller country than Iran, and all these desalination plants are concentrated in a few locations along the Mediterranean coast. Unlike deep underground military bunkers, these plants — with their sea intake pipes, vast RO filter arrays, and adjacent power turbines — are physically impossible to conceal or armor. If a handful of facilities are destroyed, a national-level water crisis emerges within days.
This is why the U.S. military has avoided "permanently" destroying Middle Eastern power plants in past wars.
Gulf War (1991): The U.S. attacked Iraq's power infrastructure but avoided complete permanent destruction. Even so, the loss of power caused water and sewage system collapse, and UNICEF estimated tens of thousands of infant deaths in the following years.
Kosovo (1999): NATO used conductive carbon fiber munitions (BLU-114/B) to temporarily short-circuit power lines. Permanent destruction of power plants themselves was avoided.
Iraq War (2003): The U.S. intentionally minimized attacks on power infrastructure. Lessons from 1991 were applied.
This taboo was not born from humanitarian concern alone. In the Middle East, power plants and desalination plants are co-located, and destroying power plants is synonymous with eliminating drinking water — this physical structure sustained the taboo. And the countries with this structural vulnerability are Iran's enemies — America's allies and Israel.
Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions prohibits attacks on "objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population." Drinking water facilities are explicitly listed.
In the Middle East, permanently destroying power plants means simultaneously destroying co-located desalination plants. A statement signed by over 100 U.S. legal scholars explicitly stated that attacks on energy infrastructure "may constitute war crimes."
But the issue here goes beyond legal debate.
The moment Trump establishes the norm that "permanent destruction of power plants is acceptable," Iran can use this norm. Iranian missiles and drones have already reached Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Israel. The IRGC has declared it will "deprive the United States and its allies of oil and gas for years" if red lines are crossed.
If Iran retaliates by attacking Gulf and Israeli power plant/desalination facilities, these countries face a water crisis within days. And Iran itself, with its mountains and rivers, can survive the same type of attack.
This asymmetry is the essence of the taboo. If permanent power plant destruction becomes an "acceptable act of war," it establishes a strategic equilibrium of "Mutually Assured Dehydration" — where even actors with asymmetric military power can seize the throat of highly developed desert nations. The most damaged parties will not be Iran, but the water-dependent U.S. allies and Israel.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), military personnel have no obligation to follow "manifestly illegal orders." Individuals who carry out illegal orders can themselves be prosecuted.
Representative Jason Crow (Colorado, Democrat, former Army Ranger) stated clearly: if ordered to target civilians, if ordered to bomb civilian power plants, that would be a war crime — military personnel have an independent obligation to follow the law of armed conflict. Even conservative commentator Tucker Carlson has said orders to kill civilians should be refused.
U.S. military operations plans undergo legality review by Judge Advocate General (JAG) officers. While Trump has presidential immunity for official acts under Supreme Court precedent, that immunity does not extend to the military personnel who carry out his orders. This asymmetry creates the structural conditions for "ordered but not executed."
Secretary of Defense Hegseth has said the war will be conducted without "stupid rules of engagement," but the individual criminal liability of military personnel exists independently of presidential immunity.
Trump is threatening to "destroy Iran's civilization." But when the taboo on permanent power plant destruction in the Middle East is broken, the civilizations facing crisis are Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, and Israel — countries that cannot supply their own water. Not Iran.
Iran is a country with mountains and water. The Gulf states and Israel are desert nations.
This taboo did not protect Iran. It protected America's allies.
On the morning of April 7, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Tonight, a civilization dies."
Just before the 8 PM deadline that same day, Trump posted on the same platform that, based on the request of Pakistan's Prime Minister Sharif and Army Chief General Munir, he would agree to a 2-week bombing pause conditional on Iran "completely, immediately, and safely" reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The White House confirmed Israel would also halt attacks.
Trump described Iran's 10-point proposal as a "workable basis on which to negotiate" and wrote that "virtually all past points of contention have been agreed upon between the US and Iran."
The person who threatened to "destroy a civilization" 12 hours earlier was now calling Iran's proposal a "workable basis."
Iran's 10-point proposal reportedly includes a permanent end to the war, a new legal framework for Strait of Hormuz passage (including transit fees), sanctions relief, and reconstruction. Trump's acceptance of this as a basis for negotiation effectively means accepting negotiations within Iran's framework.
Trump wrote "all military objectives have been achieved," but the Strait of Hormuz remained closed for 39 days, Iran's regime survived, the IRGC remained intact, and Iran was in the position of setting its own ceasefire conditions.
Iran held only one physical card for 39 days: control of the Strait of Hormuz. Russia was not an ally. The UN was non-functional. Militarily, Iran was overwhelmingly outmatched.
But it never let go of that one card.
Trump, meanwhile, escalated to his maximum threat — "destroy a civilization" — but still could not change the physical reality. Europe refused to join. Russia profited from high oil prices while using intelligence sharing with Iran as leverage. The military likely did not approve permanent power plant destruction. And by setting his own deadline, Trump forced himself into a binary choice: execute or back down.
In the end, the side that physically held something beat the side with the greatest military force.
The reason the threat of permanent power plant destruction failed is the very structure described in this article. In the Middle East, if you break the taboo on permanent power plant destruction, it is not Iran but America's allies and Israel that lose their drinking water. As long as this asymmetry exists, the threat cannot be executed.
Iran knew this. That is why, even facing the threat that "a civilization dies tonight," it never let go of the Strait of Hormuz.
Reference Material: Fact-Check: Power Plant Destruction and Water Supply (PDF)
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