New Delhi, March 28 -- Should the war over Iran grind on, water may become as crucial a commodity as oil. The arid Arab countries of the Gulf increasingly rely on desalination, which provides 90% or more of the drinking-water supply for Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, and almost as much for Oman. For Saudi Arabia it is 70%, and roughly 40% in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This has created a "dangerous new bunch of vulnerabilities" for Gulf countries, says Peter Schwartzstein of the Stimson Centre, an American think-tank. Their rapidly expanding populations and thirsty industries now rely on the smooth running of "a handful of bits of water infrastructure", he explains. These Arab countries depend on thousands of plants; the most productive ...