Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Gaurd Coprs (IRGC) has issued a threat to strike all power plants and water stations across the Middle East if US President Donald Trump goes ahead with targeting Tehran’s power structure.
Iranian media outlets have specified that the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, UAE, is a potential target in the strikes by the IRGC.
The media posted images and names of over 10 power plants in the region, including in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
Among these was the Barakah nuclear power plant. The plant has the ability to generate about 5,600 MW of energy and also falls under the range of Iranian missiles. It supplies about 25 per cent of the country’s energy, reducing the country's emissions by about 22 million tonnes each year. Before the plant was built, the county relied on fossil fuels to provide about 95 per cent of its electricity.
The plant is located in Barakah in the Al Dhafra region, 53 kilometres away from the Ruwais city on the south western part of the country.
It also provides UAE's crucial electricity needed to enable desalination to create potable water for the country.
The Barakah plant was built after the UAE accepted a bid from a South Korean consortium, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and was commissioned in March 2020.
In its threat the IRGC said that "If Iran's power infrastructure is attacked even slightly, the entire Middle East will be plunged into darkness," and threatened, "70 to 80 per cent of the major power plants in the Middle East are built on the Persian Gulf coast. The distance to this coast is less than 50 kilometres. This means that all of this power infrastructure is within Iran's sights."
“Do not doubt that we will do this,” the Guard said in the statement read on Iranian state television.
After the threat, Iranian media, including semi-official Fars News Agency, published the names of the potential targets. The threats come after Trump said that the US would "obliterate" the country's power plants if it didnt open the Strait of Hormuz.
The threat to the power plants comes after Tehran seemed to roll back on earlier threats on water desalination plants. Iran had said that the US falsely claimed that Tehran intended to hit infrastructure needed to create potable water. “The lying US President has claimed that the Revolutionary Guards intend to attack the water desalination plants and cause hardship to the people of the countries in the region,” it said.