American BLU-91 antitank mines have been discovered in the village of Kafari in southern Iran, just miles from the Shiraz South Missile Base. The mines, which are part of the cluster bomb system known as Gator, were verified by The New York Times through photos and video posted by independent journalist Dimitri Lascaris and Iranian state media.

These munitions, banned by over 100 countries under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, consist of magnetic mines designed to detonate when vehicles pass overhead. The discovery raises questions about their deployment, as they can only be dropped by warplanes and were found scattered in residential areas rather than concentrated near military targets. The mines' presence in a populated area poses significant risks to civilians.

The U.S. military has not commented on whether these weapons were used in current operations against Iran. This marks the first known discovery of such mines since their extensive use in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when over 116,000 were deployed in Kuwait and Iraq. The incident highlights the ongoing controversy surrounding cluster munitions and their impact on civilian populations.