British media: US military lays deadly landmines in Iranian village

Reference News Network reported on March 30 According to the British Daily Telegraph website on March 27, the United States is suspected of laying landmines in an Iranian village, marking the first use of such highly controversial weapons by U.S. forces in decades.

Photos taken near the Kafarin settlement, close to the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, show the "Crocodile" scatterable mine system. The settlement is about 12 miles (1 mile is approximately 1.6 kilometers) from Shiraz and near several Iranian missile depots.

Military experts confirmed to this newspaper that the photos show BLU-91 mines. Public records indicate that this type of mine is manufactured solely by the United States and has not been provided to the Israeli military.

The BLU-91 mine is deployed by air drop and detonates when it detects magnetic signals from large vehicles. The U.S. military may have dropped these mines to disrupt the movement of Iranian mobile launchers transporting missiles to launch sites.

Richard Stevens from the UK-based Explosive Risk Consultancy and Unexploded Ordnance Safety Organization stated, "The images do indeed indicate the use of U.S.-made BLU-91 mines."

Robert Torrest, a land warfare researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, pointed out, "Using remote mine laying to prevent the migration and repositioning of missiles is the most obvious tactic."

He said, "Another possibility—though I think it's less likely—is that this is a 'provocation.' If the U.S. Marine Corps were to enter Hark Island, Iran would be eager to strike it with short-range ballistic missiles."

He added, "In any case, the use of these mines indicates that the escalation of hostilities has exceeded Trump's expectations."

Iranian state media warned local residents not to approach or touch these "explosive packages," suggesting that these devices could be mistaken for "ready-to-eat canned food." The Tasnim News Agency reported that several people have already died from these devices.

It is reported that the last time the U.S. used scatterable anti-tank mines was during the Gulf War in 1991.

Amael Cotralski from the defense intelligence agency Jane's Information Group told reporters that BLU-91 mines can be programmed to self-destruct in 4 hours, 48 hours, or 15 days. However, they may also detonate if "subjected to severe vibrations."

Last year, Trump overturned a policy from the Biden administration that had prohibited the use of anti-personnel mines anywhere outside the Korean Peninsula. (Translated by Hu Lun)