COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE
I've always thought that small particles of rice were vandals!
More seriously, remember that most electronics spend time being washed with water at some - or many - stages of their construction. The exception is things with holes like microphones and some other sensors, which tend not to appreciate it.
The issue isn't the water, but what might be dissolved in it and therefore remain behind when the liquid evaporates (or in extreme cases - like coke or tea - actively affect tracks on the pcb). Back in the day, spilling your drink in broadcast equipment wasn't a great crime, but not telling the engineers was!