Iran Minister Says US, Israeli Strikes Caused 'Heavy Damage' to Water, Energy Infrastructure

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iran Minister Says US, Israeli Strikes Caused 'Heavy Damage' to Water, Energy Infrastructure

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)

Iran's critical water and energy infrastructure have suffered extensive damage due to US and Israeli strikes on tens of thousands of civilian sites, officials said on Sunday.

Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on February 28, killing the Islamic republic's supreme leader and sparking a war that has since spread across the Middle East.

"The country's vital water and electricity infrastructure has suffered heavy damage following terrorist and cyber attacks by the United States and the Zionist regime," said energy minister Abbas Aliabadi, according to ISNA news agency, AFP reported.

"The attacks targeted dozens of water transmission and treatment facilities and destroyed parts of critical water supply networks," he noted, adding that efforts were under way to repair the damage.

Iran's Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Kolivand said the total number of damaged civilian sites "has reached 81,365 based on the latest field assessments".

He said the figure includes residential and commercial units, schools, medical centers and vehicles.

"Behind every damaged unit stands a family, a life, a memory, a livelihood, and a future that has collapsed beneath the rubble of war and violence," he added.

AFP has not been able to access sites or verify the figures outside of the Iranian capital, but journalists in Tehran have reported damage to multiple residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.

More than 1,200 Iranians have been killed in US and Israeli strikes, according to the latest toll from Iran's health ministry on March 8, which could not be independently verified.

On Sunday, ISNA news agency reported that strikes had damaged a hospital in the southern city of Ahvaz, in Khuzestan province.

Other media, including Fars news agency, showed images of rescuers pulling bodies from the rubble of destroyed buildings in the northern city of Tabriz.

It was not immediately clear when those strikes took place.

Earlier on Sunday, US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran's power plants if it failed to reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.

Traffic through the vital strait -- through which 20 percent of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes -- has been brought to a near-standstill since the start of the war.

Iranian forces have attacked multiple vessels, saying they failed to heed "warnings" against transiting the waterway.

In recent days, Iran has allowed some vessels from countries it considers friendly to pass, while warning it would block ships from countries it says have joined the "aggression" against it.

In response to Trump, Iran threatened to target energy infrastructure and desalination plants across the region.

 

 

 



Treasury Department Tells US Banks to Flag Suspected Iranian Money-Laundering Networks

A general view of the Treasury Building on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, DC, US, February 1, 2026. (Reuters)
A general view of the Treasury Building on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, DC, US, February 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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Treasury Department Tells US Banks to Flag Suspected Iranian Money-Laundering Networks

A general view of the Treasury Building on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, DC, US, February 1, 2026. (Reuters)
A general view of the Treasury Building on day two of a partial government shutdown in Washington, DC, US, February 1, 2026. (Reuters)

The Treasury Department wants US banks and other financial institutions to monitor for suspected Iranian money laundering networks that use their funds to smuggle sanctioned oil through shell companies and crypto networks.

The move, which effectively deputizes the global financial system to help disrupt Iran’s sanctions-evasion infrastructure, comes as the US and Iran reached another impasse over how to end their war while their ceasefire has grown increasingly shaky.

President Donald Trump on Monday said the Iran ceasefire is on “life support” after he rejected Tehran’s latest proposal to end the war.

The Trump administration is calling on banks to flag certain customers who may launder funds for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, including newly formed companies moving unusually large amounts of money, firms that route payments through multiple intermediaries or transactions connected to Iranian crypto firms, among other indicators.

As part of the US initiative to monitor Iranian oil sales, banks are being asked to watch out for oil labeled as “Malaysian blend” to disguise its Iranian origin, missing or falsified shipping documents or ship-to-ship oil transfers that obscure where cargo came from.

A Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network report released Monday says oil firms linked to Iran conducted roughly $4 billion in transactions in 2024.

And dozens of shipping companies based in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong — all connected to transporting sanctioned Iranian oil — processed about $707 million through US accounts in 2024.

Along with a bombing campaign in Iran, the Trump administration has turned toward an economic-focused effort aimed at choking Tehran into submission, through sanctions and the threat of secondary sanctions on Iran's allies.

In April, Treasury sent a letter to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, and others threatening to levy secondary sanctions for doing business with Iran and accusing those countries of allowing Iranian illicit activities to flow through their financial institutions.


Iran Could Enrich Uranium to Weapons Grade if Attacked, Lawmaker Warns

FILE - This satellite image provided by Vantor shows the Natanz nuclear complex in Iran on March 7, 2026, with no new damage seen at the facility or the tunnels. (Satellite image ©2026 Vantor via AP, file)
FILE - This satellite image provided by Vantor shows the Natanz nuclear complex in Iran on March 7, 2026, with no new damage seen at the facility or the tunnels. (Satellite image ©2026 Vantor via AP, file)
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Iran Could Enrich Uranium to Weapons Grade if Attacked, Lawmaker Warns

FILE - This satellite image provided by Vantor shows the Natanz nuclear complex in Iran on March 7, 2026, with no new damage seen at the facility or the tunnels. (Satellite image ©2026 Vantor via AP, file)
FILE - This satellite image provided by Vantor shows the Natanz nuclear complex in Iran on March 7, 2026, with no new damage seen at the facility or the tunnels. (Satellite image ©2026 Vantor via AP, file)

Iran could enrich uranium up to 90% purity, a level considered ‌weapons-grade, if ‌the country is ‌attacked ⁠once more, parliamentary ⁠national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson ⁠Ebrahim Rezaei ‌said ‌on Tuesday.

"One of ‌Iran's ‌options in the event of another ‌attack could be 90 percent enrichment. ⁠We ⁠will review it in the parliament," Rezaei posted on X.


EU to Invite Taliban Officials to Brussels for Migrant Return Talks

Around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with court convictions -- to Afghanistan. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
Around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with court convictions -- to Afghanistan. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
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EU to Invite Taliban Officials to Brussels for Migrant Return Talks

Around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with court convictions -- to Afghanistan. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
Around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with court convictions -- to Afghanistan. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP

The European Commission told AFP Monday it plans to invite Taliban officials to Brussels in the near future for talks on returning migrants to Afghanistan.

According to sources close to the matter, a letter is to be sent "imminently" to Kabul to arrange a date for a meeting in the Belgian capital.

The visit, coordinated with Sweden, would follow two trips by European officials to Afghanistan on the same issue.

Officials are now "working on a potential follow-up meeting at technical level in Brussels with the de-facto authorities in Afghanistan," a spokesperson for the EU executive said.

No specific date has yet been raised for the visit.

- Letter from 20 countries -

As part of a broader tightening of immigration policies, around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with criminal convictions -- to Afghanistan.

In an October letter, several urged the EU to find diplomatic and practical ways to move the issue forward.

"In this context a technical meeting took place in Kabul in January 2026," the commission spokesperson said, adding that the EU was now working jointly with Sweden to "pursue these discussions" in Brussels.

Such visits raise a host of practical and ethical questions, not least because they involve engaging with Taliban authorities, which are not formally recognized by the European Union.

To enter Belgium, which hosts the EU institutions, Taliban officials would need to be granted exemptions -- something Belgian authorities appear, in theory, prepared to do.

Beyond the practicalities, the European push on returns comes as Afghanistan confronts a severe humanitarian crisis.

Since 2023, more than five million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan, often forcibly. According to international organizations, most of them live in extreme hardship, without stable housing or employment.

- Germany leads charge -

EU countries received about a million asylum applications filed by Afghans between 2013 and 2024, according to the bloc's data agency. About half as many were approved over the period.

In 2025, Afghans still -- by far -- accounted for the largest share of asylum applicants in the EU.

But as the public mood has soured on migration, Europe has looked to scale back its welcome -- and started discussing how to send Afghan migrants back home.

Some countries have pushed ahead, with Germany deporting more than 100 Afghans with criminal convictions since 2024, via charter flights facilitated by Qatar.

Attitudes in the country have been hardened by a string of deadly attacks by Afghans in recent years, including a car-ramming in Munich last year.

Austria has followed suit, receiving a delegation of Taliban representatives in Vienna in mid-September.

A number of other EU member states, including Belgium and Sweden, are looking to emulate their example, with enthusiastic backing from migration hawks.

The returns drive has drawn sharp criticism from NGOs and the political left.

"Deporting Afghans back to a country where almost half of the population cannot feed themselves is not a migration policy; it is a decision that could cost lives," says Lisa Owen, the International Rescue Committee's country director for Afghanistan.

Other migrant rights groups fear that a visit to Brussels could allow Taliban officials to identify individuals they want returned to Afghanistan, potentially putting their fundamental rights at risk.

Several diplomatic sources contacted by AFP counter that the visit is first and foremost intended to resolve practical issues -- such as how to issue passports to people whose embassies in Europe are not recognized by the Taliban authorities.

During their trips to Afghanistan, European officials similarly looked into the handling capacity of Kabul airport and other technical details, according to sources close to the talks.