This individual is a guest contributor. MEI is not able to assist with contact requests.
Naser Alsayed is a doctoral researcher at SOAS University of London, specializing in natural resource governance, environmental policy, and climate change across the Gulf and Global South. He is a Policy Fellow at the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation and the Rihla Initiative, focusing on green economic growth and resource management in these regions.
The Gulf’s water crisis: Why cooperation is crucial — and complicated
On June 19, false reports of an Israeli strike on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant sparked alarm across the Gulf. Though denied by Israeli officials, the claim traces back to a warning from Qatar’s prime minister of a potential catastrophe in the event of nuclear contamination — no water, no food, no life — due to the Gulf’s reliance on desalinated seawater. Gulf governments moved quickly to reassure the public that no radiation had been detected, but the episode underscored the region’s growing sense of vulnerability. A regional approach to water security could help to mitigate such risks.
