{"id":355630,"date":"2026-03-24T14:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T14:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/355630\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T14:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T14:12:08","slug":"what-are-irans-cluster-munitions-that-are-penetrating-israeli-defences-us-israel-war-on-iran-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/355630\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Iran\u2019s cluster munitions that are penetrating Israeli defences? | US-Israel war on Iran News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hours after Israel\u2019s assassination<\/a> of Iranian security chief Ali Larijani<\/a> on March 17, a little more than two weeks into their war, Iran fired a series of deadly cluster missiles at central Israel in what its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) described as \u201crevenge\u201d for his death.<\/p>\n

The overnight attack deployed multiple-warhead missiles that can better evade defence systems and killed two people in the Ramat Gan area near Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

Falling shrapnel injured several other people and caused significant property damage, including at a Tel Aviv train station, according to Israeli media reports.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera\u2019s Nida Ibrahim reported at the time that the two people killed, a couple in their 70s, had a safe room in their home but were unable to reach it in time, raising concerns that Israel\u2019s air raid sirens were not sounding quickly enough for people to react.<\/p>\n

But the use of cluster munitions has triggered broader alarm in Israel than any one incident \u2013 in a twist of fate for a country that has itself been accused of using these dangerous weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach kind of warhead the Iranians have also uses a cluster warhead,\u201d Uzi Rubin, founding director of Israel\u2019s missile defence programme and a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told the US news agency Media Line.<\/p>\n

Here is what we know about the use of cluster munitions:<\/p>\n

What is a cluster munition or warhead?<\/p>\n

Instead of a single explosive payload, a cluster warhead disperses multiple \u201cbomblets\u201d and has the potential for inflicting much wider damage and destruction than conventional warheads.<\/p>\n

Cluster mechanisms can be used with any missiles designed to carry large payloads, such as ballistic and long-range missiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tip of the missile, instead of containing a big barrel of explosives, contains a mechanism which holds onto a lot of small bombs. And when the missile approaches the target, it opens its skin, it peels off and it spins around and the bomblets are released and released into space and fall on the ground,\u201d Rubin told Media Line.<\/p>\n

He explained that Iranian cluster warheads may contain 20 to 30 or 70 to 80 bomblets, depending on the type of missile.<\/p>\n

Iran reportedly also used cluster munitions in the 12-day war with Israel in June, and Israel has been accused of using them in the past.<\/p>\n

What missiles capable of carrying cluster mechanisms does Iran have?<\/p>\n

Defence analysts have described Iran\u2019s missile programme as the Middle East\u2019s largest and most varied.<\/p>\n

Developed over decades, it contains ballistic and cruise missiles and is designed to give Tehran airpower despite its lack of a modern air force.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Iran\u2019s ballistic missile programme was central to US demands<\/a> during negotiations that were ongoing when Israel and the US launched their war on Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n

Iran has both short- and medium-range missile systems and longer-range surface-to-air and antiship cruise missiles.<\/p>\n

Details about Iran\u2019s munitions are sketchy, but it is believed that the country\u2019s medium- and long-range systems include the Shahab-3, Emad, Ghadr-1, the Khorramshahr variants and Sejjil. They also have newer designs like Kheibar Shekan and Haj Qassem.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s surface-to-air and antiship cruise missiles include the Soumar, Ya-Ali and the Quds variants, Hoveyzeh, Paveh and Ra\u2019ad.<\/p>\n

Its longest-reaching ballistic missile, the Soumar, has a range of 2,000km to 2,500km (1,243 to 1,553 miles). However, it was reported that two Iranian missiles were fired late on Thursday or early on Friday on Diego Garcia, the site of a joint US-United Kingdom military base in the Indian Ocean that is 4,000km (2,485 miles) from Iran. The UK said the attack failed, and an Iranian official denied firing the missile.<\/p>\n

Former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei previously limited Iranian missile ranges to 2,200km (1,367 miles) but removed that limit after Israel\u2019s 12-day war. The US joined Israel in that war as well, carrying out one day of attacks on Iran\u2019s three main nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n

Has Iran successfully struck locations in Israel?<\/p>\n

Yes. Overall, more than 4,500 people have been wounded in Israel since the start of the current war, according to the Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, it was reported that Iranian missiles had hit several areas of Tel Aviv, causing major damage to buildings and at least four casualties.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Iranian missiles struck the Israeli towns of Arad and Dimona, close to a nuclear research centre. Iran said this was a response to an Israeli attack on its Natanz nuclear facility in Isfahan province.<\/p>\n

At least 180 people were wounded in Saturday\u2019s attack, and hundreds of people were evacuated from the towns.<\/p>\n

Why are cluster munitions making an impact now?<\/p>\n

Analysts said it is rare for the Israeli public to feel the effects of a war like it has over the past three weeks.<\/p>\n

An Israeli military spokesman said Israel\u2019s air defence systems failed to intercept some of the Iranian missiles that hit Arad and Dimona despite being activated on Saturday. He added that Iran\u2019s weaponry was not \u201cspecial or unfamiliar\u201d and an investigation was under way.<\/p>\n

It is thought that the reason Iranian missiles are making such an impact is because of the use of cluster mechanisms, which make missiles much harder to intercept.<\/p>\n

To stop a ballistic missile equipped with cluster bomblets, it must be intercepted before the payload opens and releases its submunitions. After the payload opens midflight, the missile goes from a single point of attack to multiple points, making it difficult to stop.<\/p>\n

Are cluster munitions legal and why are they so dangerous?<\/p>\n

Cluster munitions are not banned internationally, but 111 countries, including most European nations and NATO members, are parties to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibiting their use.<\/p>\n

The US is not a party to that agreement, however, arguing that they should be allowed to be used against military targets. Israel and Iran are not signatories to the convention either.<\/p>\n

During the 12-day war in June, Amnesty International called Iran\u2019s use of cluster munitions \u201ca flagrant violation of international humanitarian law\u201d, referring to the Convention.<\/p>\n

Cluster munitions are particularly dangerous for civilian populations because they disperse multiple bombs over wide areas, according to human rights advocacy groups.<\/p>\n

The United Nations reported<\/a> that civilians accounted for 93 per cent of global casualties from cluster munitions in 2023, citing the Cluster Munition Monitor 2024 by the Cluster Munition Coalition, an international civil society group.<\/p>\n

Not all bomblets dispersed from cluster weapons detonate on impact. The unexploded bombs<\/a>, known as duds, can remain embedded in the ground for years, posing a serious danger to civilians, most notably children.<\/p>\n

Patrick Fruchet, a landmine clearance expert, told Al Jazeera in 2023<\/a> that explosive remnants of war \u2013 bombs that \u201cfail to go bang\u201d when launched \u2013 are a major risk in conflict areas.<\/p>\n

Fruchet said the main concern with cluster munitions is their failure rate and their \u201ctwitchy\u201d qualities, which make unexploded devices vulnerable to detonation when handled.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see a lot of children coming upon novel-looking devices and being attracted to them because they\u2019re unusual, \u2026 and there\u2019s a tendency to pick them up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The duds can still detonate decades after they are dropped. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to believe that they ever really become inert, that they ever become harmless,\u201d Fruchet said. \u201cThese things are made to an industrial standard. They\u2019re often stored for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who else has used cluster bombs?Russia-Ukraine war<\/p>\n

In 2023, then-US President Joe Biden\u2019s administration attracted criticism when it authorised the transfer of cluster munitions<\/a> to Ukraine despite the objections of rights advocates.<\/p>\n

Neither Ukraine nor Russia is a party to the international convention against their use.<\/p>\n

The US argued at the time that US-made cluster bombs were safer than the ones Russia was already using in the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,\u201d US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we\u2019ve deferred the decision for as long as we could, but there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biden later told US media that it was a \u201cvery difficult decision\u201d on his part, adding that the \u201cUkrainians are running out of ammunition\u201d.<\/p>\n

The weapons made up part of a tranche of US military assistance to Ukraine that year that also included armoured vehicles and antiarmour weapons.<\/p>\n

Sarah Yager, the Washington, DC, director at Human Rights Watch, called the US move \u201cdevastating\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are absolutely awful for civilians,\u201d Yager told Al Jazeera in a television interview in 2023. \u201cI think when legislators and policymakers here in the United States see the photos coming back of children with missing limbs, parents injured, killed by our own American cluster munitions, there\u2019s going to be a real awakening to the humanitarian disaster that this is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israeli invasions of Lebanon<\/p>\n

Israel has also been accused of using cluster bombs in Lebanon \u2013 most recently in 2025.<\/p>\n

In November last year, evidence that Israel had been using cluster munitions in Lebanon since its invasion in 2023 was raised in the UK Parliament.<\/p>\n

In their motion raised in Parliament, MPs cited \u201cevidence showing Israel\u2019s largest arms company, Elbit Systems, was one of the manufacturers of the cluster munitions used in Israel\u2019s recent assault on Lebanon\u201d.<\/p>\n

They expressed alarm that Elbit Systems was continuing to operate factories in the UK and called on the government to implement measures to prevent companies operating in the UK from supporting violations of international law and to close down all Elbit Systems factories.<\/p>\n

During Israel\u2019s occupation of southern Lebanon in 2006, the United Nations warned that up to 1 million unexploded cluster bombs were lying on the ground there.<\/p>\n

Chris Clark, the UN\u2019s demining official in Lebanon at the time, said: \u201cThe situation in south Lebanon now as a result of 34 days of bombing is that there is extensive unexploded ordnance lying all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Al Jazeera reported<\/a> that Lebanese houses, gardens, farms and streets had been peppered with the munitions.<\/p>\n

In 2007, the Israeli army appeared to confirm the use of cluster munitions in Lebanon when, after an investigation, it said its chief investigator, Major General Gershon HaCohen, determined: \u201cIt was clear that the majority of the cluster munitions were fired at open and uninhabited areas, areas from which Hezbollah forces operated and in which no civilians were present.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israeli army said cluster bombs had been fired at residential areas only \u201cas an immediate defence response to rocket attacks by Hezbollah\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of this weaponry was legal once it was determined that, in order to prevent rocket fire onto Israel, its use was a concrete military necessity,\u201d an army statement said.<\/p>\n

Sudan<\/p>\n

In 2015, Human Rights Watch reported<\/a> evidence that Sudan had used cluster bombs on civilian areas of Southern Kordofan\u2019s Nuba Mountains in February and March.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence that Sudan\u2019s army has used cluster bombs in Southern Kordofan shows the government\u2019s total disregard for its own people and civilian life,\u201d Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hours after Israel\u2019s assassination of Iranian security chief Ali Larijani on March 17, a little more than two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1153,5697,2664,85,87,21453,46,88,47,2899,43,162198,3803],"class_list":["post-355630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-conflict","tag-explainer","tag-features","tag-il","tag-iran","tag-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps","tag-israel","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-news","tag-us-israel-war-on-iran","tag-weapons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}