Naser Alsayed

Had the pleasure of joining the Fiker Institute’s working group earlier this week on Gulf foreign policy, with a focus on the post-ceasefire context, alongside a fantastic group of Gulf experts.

@mahdijasimg @ChathamHouse Really appreciate that - means a lot coming from you, my friend. Grateful for the support always.

If you don’t already, give @_NaserAlsayed a follow; a brilliant Bahraini researcher based in the UK currently with @ChathamHouse. Also a dear childhood friend.

Iran knows water is a critical vulnerability for itself. But they also know that the countries they’ve been attacking share similar vulnerabilities. So it’s a two-way street: water is both a weapon and a strategic consideration for all parties in the region,” said Dr Alsayed.

Water supply is the Gulf region’s Achilles heel,” said Dr Naser Alsayed, a researcher at SOAS University of London. “Targeting these plants represents a major escalation and introduces what we could call a new water war,” he told The Telegraph.

I told @Telegraph that it is worrying how comfortable parties in this war seem to be with the weaponisation of water. telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…

Most Gulf cities, said Dr Alsayed, only hold between a few days and two weeks of strategic water reserves – enough time to begin an emergency response but nowhere near enough to sustain a population through long periods of disruption.

Attended Ahmed Al Sharaa’s talk at Chatham House yesterday, a quote that keeps ringing in my mind: “We did not have an issue with Iran in Tehran; rather, our problem was with Iran in Damascus.” Now he faces the impossible task of sitting this conflict out.

In one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions, the threat to the environment will extend far beyond the “day after” the war. @DrAishaAlSarihi and @_NaserAlsayed agsi.org/analysis/a-sil…

Perfect time for this. The terminal’s 18 MTPA capacity adds alternative revenue streams for Qatar. External projects like this will undoubtedly show their worth in a time of force majeure, proving handy for Gulf governments.

Despite renewed negotiations, why is Russia evacuating staff from a nuclear plant? Bushehr is just 280–400 km from most Gulf states (except Oman). Any incident could have severe, long-term health impacts on communities across the region. Targeting it would be catastrophic.

Gulf diplomacy in full effect on display here👇

This could involve contingency planning for crises, establishing regional strategic water reserves, creating unified desalination grids, or implementing other mechanisms. Gulf states should recognise water security as a shared regional challenge.

Looking ahead, the post-conflict period should encourage the Gulf to reconsider its approach to regional water cooperation. As I have argued in my research, water security should be addressed collectively in the GCC.

I was quoted in a recent @AJEnglish regarding the attacks on water desalination in the Gulf. aljazeera.com/amp/news/2026/…

They are without doubt indispensable and are protected under international law. Targeting them represents a grave escalation, creating a serious risk of a humanitarian crisis, and it is essential that such attacks stop.

According to Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions; attacks on objects indispensable to civilian survival are prohibited. Desalination plants, particularly in the world’s most water-scarce region, are often the primary water resource for many countries.

Amidst news that water desalination plants are being targeted throughout this conflict, it is critical to note, something I haven’t seen pointed out yet, that under international law, targeting desalination plants constitutes a war crime.