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.

 

 

 



7 Killed in Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Regions

17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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7 Killed in Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Regions

17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Seven people were killed and 51 others were wounded in Russia overnight by Ukrainian drone attacks, Russian officials said Saturday.

Kyiv's forces are continuing their relentless aerial campaign against energy infrastructure and military targets inside Russia, aiming to undermine Moscow’s war effort and make Russians feel the consequences of the Kremlin's all-out invasion of Ukraine that is well into its fifth year.

Two sprawling warehouses of Russia's major online retailer, Wildberries, were hit by Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russian officials: one in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, some 360 kilometers (roughly 220 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and another one in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers (some 30 miles) east of Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions."

“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, The Associated Press quoted him as saying.

Ukrainian special operations also conducted strikes against targets in the Sea of Azov and in occupied territory, Zelenskyy said.

Seven night shift workers were killed at the warehouse in Kotovsk, and 25 others were wounded, Tambov regional governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said. A total of 24 people were wounded in Elektrostal, according to the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov.

Two more people were wounded in the Moscow region city of Noginsk, just north of Elektrostal, where an oil depot was on fire after a Ukrainian drone strike, Vorobyov said. A nearby maternity hospital was evacuated as a precaution, as well as one residential building, he added.

In the city of Vladimir, some 180 kilometers (over 110 miles) east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building, sparking a brief fire, Vladimir governor Alexander Avdeyev said. There were no casualties, he added.

Overall, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.


Rescuers Race to Find Survivors in the Rain after Deadly China Landslide

Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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Rescuers Race to Find Survivors in the Rain after Deadly China Landslide

Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Rescue crews on Saturday raced to find survivors from a landslide in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing that killed at least eight people and left 34 missing.

The landslide occurred in Pengshui County on Friday morning on the outskirts of Chongqing municipality, when massive amounts of rocks and soil washed down a slope, burying more than 10 residential buildings, state broadcaster CCTV said. Ten people were rescued but sent to the hospital, while more than 1,100 people have been relocated.

Photos and Associated Press videos showed that one of the fallen rocks appeared larger than a multistory building, with ruins scattered across the steep terrain. One of the damaged buildings had its top part crushed and a car was seen half-buried near another building.

The landslide contained about 18,000 cubic meters of rocks and debris, and the largest single rock was around 3,000 cubic meters, Wang Chuanjun, head of Planning and Natural Resources in Pengshui County, told a news conference on Friday.

CCTV said persistent rain hit Pengshui from Friday night to Saturday morning and 19.2 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) of rainfall was recorded at a weather station. The unstable weather made the rescue operation more challenging, it said. As the rain eased slightly, rescue teams entered the site to conduct on-the-ground inspections of the collapsed buildings and riverbank areas.

While rescue operations are being carried out on one side of the massive rocks, teams will later need to look beneath them, where they may risk injury if the boulders become unstable and slide, CCTV reported. Once the search of the surrounding areas is complete, officers will drill into the boulders and fill the holes with explosives to break them apart, it said.

China's National Development and Reform Commission on Saturday allocated a relief fund of 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) to support the restoration of infrastructure and public service facilities following the disaster.

The rain-triggered landslide occurred near a stretch of the Wujiang River, which cuts through karst mountains peppered with small towns and terraces.

Pengshui County is located in the southeast part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou.


Flash Flood Kills 4, Leaves 4 Others Missing in Vietnam

This photo taken and released by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on July 17, 2026, shows rescue workers addressing the aftermath of flash floods in Muong Than Commune, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam. (Photo by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) / AFP)
This photo taken and released by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on July 17, 2026, shows rescue workers addressing the aftermath of flash floods in Muong Than Commune, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam. (Photo by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) / AFP)
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Flash Flood Kills 4, Leaves 4 Others Missing in Vietnam

This photo taken and released by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on July 17, 2026, shows rescue workers addressing the aftermath of flash floods in Muong Than Commune, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam. (Photo by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) / AFP)
This photo taken and released by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on July 17, 2026, shows rescue workers addressing the aftermath of flash floods in Muong Than Commune, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam. (Photo by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) / AFP)

At least four people were killed and four others were missing after a flash flood swept through a mountainous village in Vietnam’s northern province of Lai Chau, state media reported on Saturday.

The flood in Muong Than village early on Friday after days of heavy rains in several parts of northern Vietnam also injured seven ⁠people, reported the ⁠Vietnam News Agency, according to Reuters.

Vietnam is prone to deadly storms and floods during the rainy season that peaks from July through September. Natural disasters, mostly floods, killed 489 ⁠people in the country last year, according to government data.

The Vietnam News Agency report had photos showing red mud and flood water blanketing the village, with rocks and wood logs piling in a corner of a damaged road.

Since Wednesday, landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy rain have also ⁠damaged ⁠roads, power grids and hundreds of houses, as well as inundating 238 hectares of crops in the region, according to the government’s disaster management agency.

Several parts of northern Vietnam are forecast to receive heavy rain of up to 250 millimeters on Saturday, the agency said, warning of more flash floods and landslides.