Iran has accused the US of dropping anti-tank landmines inside its territory, which it claims have resulted in the death of many people. The regime-backed media Tasnim claimed that these mines were dropped from the skies over the southern suburbs of Shiraz, especially in the village of Kafari.
While the claim cannot be verified, the report that appeared in Tasnim claimed that the US troops dropped these mines in an area near one of its underground missile facilities, also known as missile cities.
Tasnim alleged that these mines resembled ready-made canned food, and were somewhat larger than tuna cans and contained explosives that detonated after being opened, causing casualties. “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 media post that appeared on Telegram claimed.
The post also included several pictures of what appear to be BLU-91/B scatterable anti-tank landmines.
Though the US has not responded to the claims or the images, an open source investigation collective, Bellingcat, claimed evidence pointed to the US scattering mines over an Iranian village. The organisation also geolocated the images to the “village of Kafari, adding that the munitions appeared to be air-delivered US-made Gator anti-tank mines. The US is the only participant in the Iran war known to possess Gator Scatterable Mines.
Bellingcat quoted Dr NR Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, who confirmed that the images appeared to be American BLU-91/B scatterable anti-tank landmines. “The BLU-91/B is dispensed from the CBU-78/B or CBU-89/B air-delivered cargo bombs (cluster munitions). The presence of square ‘aeroballistic adaptors’ indicates that the mines seen here were delivered by air. Similar mines can be dispensed from the vehicle- or helicopter-based Volcano system,” he told the agency.
Bellingcat said it asked the US Department of Defence whether it had dropped the mines overnight, but did not receive a response.
The agency said the BLU-91/B and BLU-92/B mines are self-destructive in nature and usually activated two minutes after being deployed. However, some of them fail to explode immediately and do so after hours or days. They also explode if disturbed which makes them dangerous.