Attacks on desalination plants - including one recently hit in Iran - have sparked alarm across Gulf nations that rely heavily on these facilities for daily water supply. Strikes on this critical infrastructure could trigger acute water shortages in major cities, force governments to impose rationing, disrupt hospital and industrial operations, and sharply increase demand for bottled water. With airspace already restricted in parts of the region, emergency water supplies may need to be trucked in, raising concerns of severe humanitarian stress if outages persist.