mines

Iran is accusing the U.S. of dropping anti-tank landmines in an area near one of its underground missile facilities (often referred to as missile cities) that it claims killed several people. While we cannot independently verify the provenance of the images provided by Iranian media or the casualty claims, the use of these munitions would make sense. Despite an intense bombing campaign against Iran’s missiles and launch sites, the Islamic Republic is still firing these weapons at targets across the Middle East. A highly-targeted area-denial campaign around specific missile facilities using mines could help reduce that threat.

The accusation about the landmines came Thursday morning in the form of social media posts by Iran’s official Tasnim news agency.

“These explosive packages resemble ready-made canned food, are somewhat larger than tuna cans, and contain explosives that detonate after being opened, causing casualties,” Tasnim wrote on Telegram. “These packages have been dropped in the skies over the southern suburbs of Shiraz, especially in the village of Kafari, and unfortunately have caused the martyrdom of several people in these areas.”

The Tasnim posts included several pictures of what appear to be BLU-91/B scatterable anti-tank landmines.

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In its story about the landmines, the Bellingcat open source investigations collective geolocated some to the village of Kafari, Iran…,” the organization stated, citing a video from Canadian lawyer and activist Dimitri Lascaris, who is in Shiraz. 

“This video shows at least three mines approximately two kilometres away from the entrance to what is reported to be Shiraz South Missile Base, an Iranian ‘missile city,’” Bellingcat added. The video shows several of the mines scattered in a village.

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“The US is the only participant in the war known to possess these mines,” Bellingcat posited. “They were developed after the US stopped supplying arms to Iran. A review of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Arms Transfer Database, and US Major Arms Sales does not show any transfers of these mines to Israel.”

We cannot independently verify the origin of the mines seen in the video, but it seems unlikely that Iranians would have access to them. Still, it is possible they did, or have produced dummies or clones, and placed them there for propaganda value. U.S. Central Command declined to say if these mines are being used during Epic Fury.

Iran has been able to preserve a number of its missile launchers, which could involve moving them in and out of underground facilities like the one near Shiraz or hiding them elsewhere in the area and moving them to designated launch points. This is occurring even after these facilities have been repeatedly bombed. These aerial attacks have focused on keeping their entrances caved in. These strikes are on top of the vast, resource-consuming interdiction effort to hunt for and strike launchers that are exposed. So, continued launches from these areas would be a major reason why resorting to deploying anti-tank mines there makes sense and would have a high military value.

Designed to attack tanks and trucks, the mines could destroy or disable the launchers and likely the payloads they carry. They could also make roads to and around the underground missile cities unpassable. Even limiting where the launchers could go within these areas could make them more vulnerable.

The mines are part of the Gator family of systems that includes the air-delivered BLU-91/B and a companion anti-personnel type (BLU-92/B). Different mixes of the mines can be loaded with several types of bomb-like air-dropped dispensers, which break open after release to disperse their payloads over a targeted area.

Each mine and dispenser combination has its own designation. Cluster munitions loaded with Gator mines can be employed by many of the U.S. combat aircraft known to be taking part in Operation Epic Fury today, including bombers. The last known combat employment of Gator mines appears to have been during the Gulf War in 1991. There were unconfirmed reports of Gator use in the opening phases of the war in Afghanistan in 2001.

Air-delivered BLU-91s and BLU-92s both have box-like “aeroballistic adaptors.” That feature is absent on related mines in U.S. Army service that are laid via launchers mounted UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and trucks.

From a humanitarian viewpoint, there is concern about collateral damage from civilians inadvertently setting them off or picking them up without knowing what they are. Gator mines are not known to have anti-handling features but can still be dangerous to move. They can also be preset to self-destruct after four hours, 48 hours, or 15 days. It’s worth noting that the mines do not always detonate themselves or otherwise function intended, as is the case with all munitions.

That being said, the missile cities are removed from urban areas and sit within large, tightly controlled perimeters. Mining these areas, where civilians have no access, would present a far lower danger to innocent lives than mining random roads or ones near military bases in urban areas.

Of note is that in terms of the mines themselves, the pictures circulating online so far only appear to show BLU-91s having been used in Iran. These are readily distinguishable from BLU-92 anti-personnel mines, which have four ports on top of their main bodies through which spring-loaded trip wires are fired after the mine activates. The tops of the BLU-91s are flat. Gator mine cluster munitions are typically loaded with some amount of both types of mine, but types containing only BLU-91s have at least been tested in the past.

The distinction is important. While the U.S. is not a signatory to the international treaty known as the Ottawa Convention which banned the application or storage of anti-personnel landmines, it does not allow the use of them. There are no such preclusions against anti-tank mines.

It remains to be seen whether the mines, if truly dropped by the U.S., are an isolated incident or part of a broader campaign as Epic Fury drags into a second month. However, deploying an area denial capability like air-dropped anti-tank mines in places where the missiles are known to be stored and around known launch points could prove to be an effective measure in trying to stop Iran’s barrages from continuing.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

Iranian explosive-laden boats appear to have attacked two fuel tankers in Iraqi waters, setting them ablaze and killing one crew member, after projectiles struck three vessels in Gulf waters, according to reports.

The ships targeted in late-night ⁠attacks on Wednesday in the Gulf near Iraq were the Marshall Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu and the Zefyros, which had loaded fuel cargoes in Iraq, two Iraqi port officials told the Reuters news agency.

“We recovered the body of a foreign crew member from the water,” one port security official said, as Iraqi rescue teams continued searching for other missing seafarers. It was not immediately clear which ship that person was linked to.

One Iraqi port security source said Zefyros is flagged ‌in Malta and provided Reuters with a list of crew names.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Baghdad, Iraq, Mahmoud Abdelwahed, said the tankers were loaded with crude oil from the Umm Qasr port in southern Iraq in the Basra province, and were attacked soon after their voyage got under way.

“Iraqi officials say this is a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty given the fact this act, they say, of sabotage has happened in Iraq’s territorial waters,” Abdelwahed said.

Reuters said that reports of the use of explosive-laden unmanned surface vessels, which Ukraine has used with great effect in its war with Russia, come as Iran has blocked oil shipments from transiting the key Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of ⁠the world’s oil transits but has been blocked amid the United States-Israeli war on Iran.

Reuters, citing two unnamed sources, also reported on Wednesday that Iran ‌has deployed about a dozen mines in the strait, while US President Donald Trump said US forces had struck 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels, amid warnings by Trump of severe repercussions should Iran lay mines in the key waterway for global shipping.

Strait of Hormuz sealed

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have warned that any ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz will be targeted.

The Thai-flagged Mayuree Naree dry bulk vessel was struck by “two projectiles of unknown origin” while sailing through the strait earlier on Wednesday, causing a fire and damaging the engine room, the ship’s Thai-listed operator Precious Shipping said in a statement.

“Three crew members are ⁠reported missing and believed to be trapped in the engine room,” Precious Shipping said.

“The company is working with the relevant authorities to rescue these three ⁠missing crew members,” it said, adding that the remaining 20 crew members had been safely evacuated and were ashore in Oman.

Images shared by Thai news outlet Khaosod English showed what were reported to be crew members of the ship after their rescue by Oman’s navy.

The IRGC said in a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency that the ship was “fired upon by Iranian fighters”, suggesting the first direct engagement by the IRGC, who have previously fired missiles or drones.

The Japan-flagged container ship ONE Majesty also sustained minor damage on Wednesday from an unknown projectile 25 nautical miles (about 46 kilometres) northwest ⁠of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, two maritime security firms said. Its Japanese owner Mitsui OSK Lines and a spokesperson for Ocean Network Express, its charterer, said the vessel was struck while at anchor in the Gulf, and an inspection of the hull revealed minor damage above the waterline.

All crew are safe, they said, adding that the vessel remains fully operational and seaworthy. The owner said the cause of the incident remained unclear and was under investigation.

A third vessel, a bulk ‌carrier, was also hit by an unknown projectile approximately 50 nautical miles (about 93km) northwest of Dubai, maritime security firms said.

The projectile had damaged the hull of the Marshall Islands-flagged Star Gwyneth, maritime risk management company Vanguard said, adding that the vessel’s crew were safe. Owner Star Bulk Carriers said the ship was hit in the hold area while it was anchored. There were no crew injuries and no listing.

The US Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry ⁠for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened Iran with unprecedented military consequences if it had placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz and failed to remove them, Anadolu reports.

“If for any reason mines were placed, and they are not removed forthwith, the military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

He added that removing the mines would be “a giant step in the right direction.”

Trump, however, also noted that US has “no reports of” Tehran putting out mines in the waterway.

The warning came after a CNN report that Iran has begun laying mines in the strait. Sources told the news outlet that only a few dozen had been placed so far, but Iran still had up to 90% of its small boats and mine-laying vessels intact, leaving it capable of deploying hundreds more.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, with around 20 million barrels of oil passing through it daily. Iran’s IRGC had previously announced the closure of the strait to transit following the start of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, pushing oil prices above and raising fears of a prolonged global energy disruption.

The escalation in the Middle East flared since Israel and the US launched a joint attack on Iran on Feb. 28, and to date killing more than 1,200 people, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was the supreme leader. At least eight US service members have been killed since the beginning of the campaign.