U.S. May Have Deployed Anti-Tank Mines in Southern Iran
Open-source research group Bellingcat reported on Thursday that the U.S. may have dropped anti-tank mines over a village in southern Iran. Images posted on social media appeared to show American BLU-91/B scatterable anti-tank landmines in the southern suburbs of Shiraz.
Iranian state media reported that “explosive packages” slightly larger than tuna cans had been dropped by aircraft over the area, and some had exploded after being handled. Several people were killed by the devices, according to Iranian state TV, which urged members of the public to report the items’ locations to authorities and not touch them.
CBS News was unable to independently verify the images, and U.S. Central Command declined to comment when asked if the U.S. had deployed the munitions. Bellingcat cited three independent weapons experts as saying the munitions shown by Iranian state media appeared to be BLU-91/B mines, which are delivered by American Gator anti-tank mine systems.
BLU-91/B anti-tank mines are designed to be triggered by a large vehicle driving by and disrupting the mine’s magnetic field. However, they could also be detonated by other types of vehicles and have a self-destruct setting that could mean they explode hours or even days after being dropped, according to Richard Weir, a senior adviser in the Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division at Human Rights Watch.
The BLU-91/B mines are anti-vehicle mines, as opposed to anti-personnel mines, which are banned under the U.N. Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. Over 100 countries are signatories of that convention, though the U.S. is not.
Anti-personnel mines “are typically smaller,” Weir said, explaining they are devices triggered by an individual’s presence or proximity to the weapon. Anti-tank and anti-vehicle mines aren’t covered as part of the treaty itself but present similar risks because they don’t discriminate between their target.
The U.S. hasn’t used anti-tank mines in any meaningful way since the first Gulf War in 1991, Weir said, and it hasn’t used anti-personnel mines since 2002 in Afghanistan. This is something that is very rare, and the consequences of this are almost invariably more civilian harm, which can extend for many years.