A US military strike on a water storage facility in Bemani, a small district in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, has drawn sharp condemnation from legal and military experts who say the attack may constitute a war crime. Two large concrete water storage tanks were destroyed in the 10 June strike, leaving approximately 20,000 people in Kuhestak and surrounding villages without water for around 12 hours. Satellite imagery confirmed the destruction of the tanks, with no other buildings visible in the immediate vicinity. Iran's state broadcaster attributed the strike to the US military, and munition fragments photographed by Iranian media were identified by a former US army technician as components of a GBU-39, a precision-guided bomb produced in the United States. US Central Command said it was "looking into" the reports but did not confirm or deny its role.
The legal stakes are significant. Under international humanitarian law, attacking civilian infrastructure is prohibited unless it constitutes a lawful military objective. "It's either a military objective or it's a civilian object: attacking one is lawful, attacking the other is a war crime," said Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer who has advised both Republican and Democratic administrations on the use of force. A former US army targeting adviser added that deliberately striking water infrastructure would be unprecedented in his experience: "Pre-Trump 2.0, I would have said absolutely we don't target water infrastructure. But now I'm not sure." The precision of the strike — hitting two buildings directly with no collateral damage to surrounding structures — has led some analysts to conclude that the tanks were the intended target rather than incidental casualties.
The strike comes at a particularly dangerous moment for Iran's civilian population. The province of Hormozgan, where the facility is located, is one of the hottest places on earth, with summer temperatures regularly exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. Iran is also in the grip of a historic drought. "Iran's water crisis has left the country with virtually no margin for error," said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group. "Further disruptions could prove catastrophic for the population." The attack is part of a broader, intensifying US military campaign against Iran that has, according to satellite imagery reviewed by BBC Verify, damaged more than 50 Iranian military bases since hostilities began on 28 February, striking air force jets, warships, and ballistic missile facilities across the country.
The Bemani strike is not the first incident to raise questions about civilian targeting. Earlier this year, a US strike hit a girls' school in Minab, killing dozens of students aged seven to twelve — an attack on which the US military has also declined to comment. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, a prominent critic of the administration's conduct of the war, said he planned to bring a war powers resolution to the Senate and would demand answers from the Pentagon. He also raised concerns about the potential role of artificial intelligence in selecting targets without adequate human oversight. Congress voted on 3 June to constrain US military action in Iran, with four Republican lawmakers joining Democrats in an unprecedented resolution.
Why this matters: the conflict, which has unfolded against the backdrop of fraught and repeatedly stalled nuclear negotiations, has already claimed more than 1,700 civilian lives in Iran according to human rights monitors. Conflicting signals about a possible ceasefire agreement continued to emerge on Thursday, with President Trump claiming a deal was close even as Iran disputed the characterisation. The destruction of civilian water infrastructure — whether deliberate or the result of a targeting error — risks deepening international scrutiny of US military conduct and further complicating diplomatic efforts to bring the conflict to an end.