Shoigu warned about the risks of a new wave of refugees in the Middle East

The Secretary of the Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, warned of catastrophic consequences in the event of the failure of the water desalination infrastructure during the conflict over Iran. He informed Izvestia about this.

"The failure of the water desalination infrastructure will lead to the rapid dehydration of large cities, the shutdown of health systems and, as a result, to a multimillion-dollar influx of refugees. The consequences will go far beyond the Middle East," Shoigu said.

The Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation drew attention to the fact that today up to 40% of the world's desalinated water is produced in the Gulf countries and Iran. More than 155 million people live in the conflict zone. Many of them depend almost entirely on desalinated water, as its share in the drinking balance exceeds 90%.

According to him, there is currently no transport system in the world that could deliver such an amount of water to the territory of the Persian Gulf states, whose total area is more than 2.7 million square kilometers, and estimates of strategic water reserves range from seven to 14 days.

"We are convinced that the use of life support facilities as an instrument of military pressure is absolutely unacceptable. The only responsible way out is to de-escalate and find a long-term peaceful solution at the negotiating table. We call on the parties to immediately return to a diplomatic settlement," Shoigu concluded.

East Stream: escalation around Iran threatens Europe with a wave of refugees

If at least a tenth of the population of the republic leaves it, the region will face a large-scale crisis.

On March 22, the Reuters news agency reported that the chairman of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, announced an immediate mirror response to the aggressors in the event of attacks on critical infrastructure facilities in the Islamic Republic.

Sergei Shoigu said on March 5 that one day of closure of the Strait of Hormuz costs all countries $7 billion. In addition, he noted that the conflict in the Middle East was unleashed without understanding the consequences. Shoigu added that the attacks on Iran are an unprecedented disregard for international law.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.