Iran has launched missiles with cluster-munition warheads at Israel over the course of the Middle East war, according to verified footage and Israeli officials — actions that experts say could violate the laws of war.
More than 10 Iranian missiles with the warheads have been fired at the country since the war began on Feb. 28, according to Chief Superintendent Doron Lavi of the Israeli police’s bomb disposal unit.
Cluster munitions have warheads that burst and scatter into bomblets, which can cause indiscriminate harm if fired near civilians. Since 2008, more than 100 countries have signed an international agreement to prohibit them. Israel and Iran have not adopted the ban, nor have major powers like the United States, Russia, China and India.
Iran previously targeted Israel with cluster munitions during a 12-day war last year. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said Iran had drastically increased its use of the weapon in the current conflict. Israel used cluster munitions in past wars, including in Lebanon in 2006, prompting similar criticism.
In one video shared by a municipal authority in central Israel, a bomblet, also known as a “submunition,” is seen exploding on impact on March 4 on a street in Or Yehuda, a city near Tel Aviv. There were no reported injuries.
“The video shows what appears to be an Iranian submunition tumbling to the ground before detonating,” said N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, a firm that analyzes arms and munitions.
In a separate clip, from March 5, bomblets are seen in the night sky during a ballistic missile attack, according to Mr. Jenzen-Jones.
Legal experts said international law barred countries from using cluster munitions in populated areas because the weapons’ indiscriminate nature makes it far harder for belligerent forces to target soldiers without risking harm to civilians.
“The bomblets are released in a fairly random pattern — they are unguided,” said Adil Haque, an international law professor at Rutgers Law School. “As such, they cannot be directed at specific military targets.”
In theory, the munitions could be used in areas without civilians, such as naval warfare, Professor Haque said. But Iranian missile fire over Israeli cities did not meet that standard, he said.
Cluster-munition warheads often leave behind “unexploded duds,” which can suddenly detonate when civilians stumble upon them years later, said Bonnie Docherty, an arms expert at Human Rights Watch.
Russia and Ukraine have used cluster munitions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The United States sold the weapons to Ukraine in 2023 despite concerns over how they would be used.
Tal Inbar, an Israeli expert on Iranian missiles, said Iran might be using the weapons to make it easier to evade Israel’s air-defense system.
Even if an Israeli interceptor missile hits a cluster-munition warhead, some of its bomblets may still emerge undamaged from the collision and continue their descent. Israel, Mr. Inbar said, could try to intercept those bomblets, but it is hard to hit them all in time.
Twelve Israelis, at least 11 confirmed as civilians, have been killed in Iranian attacks during the war, two of them in cluster attacks, according to Israeli officials.
More than 1,300 Iranians have been killed in Israeli and American strikes, according to Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations. Iran’s toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Adam Rasgon is a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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