The escalation in the war between Israel and Iran has led to the emergence of a new and particularly worrying element - the massive use of ballistic missiles with cluster warheads, which put even the most advanced missile defense systems under serious strain, writes "The Guardian".
The beginning of this development was given on March 5, when a propaganda message appeared on a social network X profile associated with the late Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei with an image of a powerful missile and the caption "The moments of Khorramshahr are coming". This is a direct reference to Iran's most advanced ballistic missile, the "Khoramshahr", which is believed to be capable of carrying a cluster warhead with up to 80 submunitions.
Since the start of the conflict on February 28, this threat has begun to materialize. According to the Israeli military, about half of the Iranian missiles fired were equipped with cluster warheads. At least 19 such missiles penetrated air defenses and hit populated areas, causing casualties and dozens of injuries.
The key problem with this type of weapon is its mechanism. Cluster munitions disintegrate in the air and scatter dozens of smaller bombs over a wide area. This means that even if the carrier missile is intercepted, it is not guaranteed that all the submunitions will be destroyed. If the dispersion has already begun, interception becomes virtually impossible.
This is where a vulnerability in the otherwise extremely sophisticated Israeli defense system, including the "Iron Dome", is revealed. It is designed to neutralize single threats - missiles with a single warhead - but with cluster munitions the attack profile changes. For the defense to be effective, the missile must be destroyed before it releases the submunitions, preferably outside the atmosphere.
In addition to the purely technical challenge, there is also an economic dimension. Defense against cluster munitions requires the use of expensive interceptors, and in some cases it may be necessary to launch dozens of missiles to neutralize a single threat. This calls into question the sustainability of the defense in the long term and creates a risk of exhausting available resources.
In parallel, cluster munitions also have serious humanitarian consequences. Some submunitions do not explode on impact and remain as unexploded devices, posing a threat to civilians long after the attack. Their use in populated areas is therefore considered indiscriminate and prohibited by international law, although neither Israel nor Iran is a party to the relevant 2008 convention.
The practical consequences are already visible. In addition to injuries, there have been civilian deaths, including an elderly family and a foreign worker, in strikes in the Tel Aviv area. Videos showing dozens of glowing dots scattering across the night sky have become a symbol of the conflict for Israeli society.
In a broader strategic sense, the use of such munitions appears to have a dual purpose - not only to increase the likelihood that some of the strikes will penetrate defenses, but also to drain the enemy's resources. Despite Israel's claims to have destroyed over 70% of Iran's launchers, Tehran continues to find ways to overcome defenses and strike.
This development suggests that the conflict is entering a new phase, in which technological superiority no longer guarantees complete protection, and the cost - both military and humanitarian - continues to rise.