Israel says Iran launched cluster bombs 'multiple times' in war

Jerusalem: Israel's military Friday said that Iran had launched cluster bombs "multiple times" since the start of the war that began with a US-Israeli attack on the Islamic republic last week.

"They (the Iranians) are using cluster munitions", military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said during a press briefing, without providing details on when and where those munitions were launched.

"They've used it multiple times, which is a war crime when it's directed towards civilians and we're tracking that situation", Shoshani added.


Neither Iran nor Israel are among more than a hundred countries that are party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use, transfer, production and storage of cluster bombs.

AFP footage from Thursday evening showed a swarm of flaming projectiles falling in the darkened sky over central Israel.

Police did not comment on the sighting, but a military expert who reviewed the footage for AFP identified them as a part of a cluster bomb.

Israel's police had said Wednesday that bomb disposal experts found evidence of cluster munitions after incoming missiles from Iran were detected.

Due to military censorship rules in place in Israel since the start of its war with Iran, impact sites are generally closed to the public including journalists until they are cleared of Iranian missile debris and unexploded ordnances.

Police on Friday also published a public service announcement in which one of its bomb disposal technicians explained the dangers of cluster bombs.

"During the current war, the home front is facing a variety of threats, whether missiles, UAVs (drones), or rockets. I will talk to you about a threat that is a bit less known, but no less dangerous: the cluster munition threat," the technician said in the video.

During Israel's 12-day war with Iran in June 2025, the NGO Amnesty International reported the Islamic republic's use of widely banned cluster munitions.

The organisation had said it analysed photos and videos showing cluster munitions that, according to media reports, struck inside the Gush Dan metropolitan area around Tel Aviv on June 19.

The southern city of Beersheva on June 20 and Rishon LeZion to the south of Tel Aviv on June 22 were also "struck with ordnance that left multiple impact craters consistent with the submunitions seen in Gush Dan", Amnesty said.

Cluster munitions explode in mid-air and scatter bomblets.

Some of them may not explode on impact and can cause casualties over time, particularly among children.