Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani has warned that any military action by the US or Israel against Iran’s nuclear sites could plunge persian Gulf nations into a water crisis, potentially leaving them without water within three days.
Al-Thani made the comment in an interview with right-wing US media personality Tucker Carlson on Friday, March 7.
When asked about the impact on the water body between Iran and Qatar if the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant were attacked, Al-Thani warned it would trigger an environmental disaster due to high level of water contamination.
“The water would be completely contaminated… The entire country would run out of water in three days,” he stated, emphasising that the crisis would not be limited to Qatar alone but would impact Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and other persian Gulf nations.
He cautioned that without water and marine life, any military action would result in the end of all life.
On the same day, US President Donald Trump mentioned that he had sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, proposing negotiations aimed at establishing a new deal to control Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
In response, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, told AFP that while Iran remains open to discussions under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with other negotiators, it will not engage directly with the U.S. as long as the current “maximum pressure” economic sanctions and threats persist.
“We will not enter any direct negotiations with the U.S. while they continue this policy,” Araghchi said. “However, we are in talks with the three European countries, as well as Russia and China, the other members of the JCPOA. We believe that these discussions can eventually yield a positive result.”
US intelligence officials cautioned that Israel could initiate a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear program by midyear, aiming to exploit what they see as Iran’s vulnerability, multiple intelligence reports indicated, according to The Washington Post on February 12.
