Since launching the military campaign against Iran on Feb. 28, the US and Israel have dropped thousands of bombs on the country. Videos of explosions have become a source of misinformation and misunderstanding, with many of the strikes incorrectly attributed to a particular munition and many explosive effects – seen in footage and images – falsely attributed to “mystery” or illegal weapons.

Take the below post that initially suggested (although it said more analysis was required) that the US may have used a nuclear weapon in Iran, an outlandish and clearly incorrect claim that experts Bellingcat spoke to had little time for.

IMPORTANT UPDATE AND NOTE: The following is not a complete assessment and I require more data to verify first use. This is a surface level observation but it must be noted.

The US used what appears to be, without additional details, a nuclear weapon on Iran delivered by a… pic.twitter.com/7ucJNdGyNi

— Korobochka (コロボ) (@cirnosad) March 11, 2026

The post, set to private after the publication of this guide, appeared to suggest that a nuclear explosion happened in Iran. Source: X/cirnosad

“The video does not show a nuclear explosion—something that I am astonished even needs to be clarified,” Dr NR Jenzen-Jones, Director of Armament Research Services, a weapons intelligence consultancy, told Bellingcat.

Mushroom clouds can form when explosions produce hot gases that quickly rise and encounter resistance from denser, colder air. (Clouds created by nuclear weapons can also vary significantly in appearance.)

“Certain types of explosive munitions, such as those working on the fuel-air explosive (FAE) and thermobaric principles, are particularly poorly understood by non-specialists. As a result, these and other types of munitions are routinely misidentified,” Jenzen-Jones said.

Often posts about explosives are incorrect or inaccurate because of a lack of knowledge about how explosives work, but in other cases misinterpretations are deliberate. Joe Dyke, director of programmes at Airwars, told Bellingcat that deliberate disinformation that shifts responsibility of a strike is the most common they see, with posts often sharing flimsy but “scientific sounding” analysis.

Better understanding explosives can make it easier to identify misinformation surrounding explosions. 

This guide explains explosives, their characteristics and the impact they have on people and infrastructure. We highlight the differences between thermobaric and Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME), two types of explosives that are frequently the subject of misinformation.

What Are Explosives?

Explosives are energetic materials capable of causing death and destruction through a rapid release of energy. The blast creates pressure waves emanating from the epicentre. These waves can directly kill or injure people and shatter objects into lethal fragments.

High explosives are typically used in warheads and shells; they differ from low explosives which are often used in rocket propellants. The supersonic speed of the explosive reaction- classified as detonation- also separates the two kinds of explosives. During detonation, temperatures can rise above 3,000 °C, but only briefly and very close to the reaction zone, Dr Sabrina Wahler, a Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology focusing on research of detonation products told Bellingcat.

The detonation creates a shockwave, which is a visible wave or bubble in high speed videos. The shockwave impacts people and objects before the sound of the blast can be heard.

The shockwave is the result of the pressure pushing air away from the blast in the positive phase. When the air rushes back in the negative phase, it creates a suction effect.

The shockwave arrival time, combined with a known distance, has been used to estimate the explosive weight of blasts, including the Beirut explosion in 2020.

Reactive materials, such as aluminium powder, are often added to explosives to improve performance. These metals react with the gaseous products from the detonation, resulting in increased energy output, Jacqueline Akhavan, a Professor of Explosive Chemistry at Cranfield University, told Bellingcat.

Sometimes, reactive metals such as aluminium from the explosive composition can be seen burning outside the fireball, indicating an explosive with reactive metal.

The size of a fireball does not necessarily indicate the blast’s power. In movies and airshows, a “Hollywood shot” involves igniting large amounts of gasoline with small amounts of explosives, creating spectacular fireballs with minimal pressure.

Thermobaric, and dense inert metal explosives (DIME), are other types of explosive compositions where metals are added to modify specific effects.

Thermobaric Explosives

In January 2024, after an attack in Gaza, social media posts appeared claiming that thermobaric explosives “literally sucks the air out of the children’s lungs and causes them to internally explode”. According to an article by Dr Rachel Lance, a biomedical engineer specialising in patterns of injury and trauma from explosions “there is no evidence that thermobarics pull the air out of the lungs”. 

There were also claims that thermobaric weapons incinerate people. According to a report by the Armament Research Services, the effects of this type of explosion “are of the same nature as those expected from a conventional high explosive”. The only difference is that the duration of each effect is likely to be longer from a few milliseconds to tens of milliseconds and in a pressure wave with a lower peak.

This occurs because thermobaric explosives add a significant amount of fuel or reactive metals to the explosive composition. Some of the fuel burns after detonation. These munitions are effective against cave or bunker systems, as the pressure wave can travel further throughout the structure.

Visual differences can indicate the types of explosives used. Even within the same category, explosives may appear different because of variations in chemical composition, conditions where the explosion occurs, and video quality.

TÜBİTAK SAGE’den yerli termobarik patlayıcıda yeni bir adım daha!

Kapalı alanlarda yüksek darbe ve sıcaklık etkinliğine sahip yeni bir termobarik patlayıcı

TENDÜREK’ten sonra KOR ile geleneksel patlayıcılara göre 4 kat daha yüksek sıcaklık etkinliği pic.twitter.com/N4yZ8YvMi9

— TÜBİTAK SAGE (@SageTubitak) March 5, 2020

Comparison of KOR, a thermobaric explosive, and TNT, in a test by TÜBİTAK SAGE, a Turkish Defense Research Organization. Source: X/TÜBİTAK SAGE.

Many countries, including the US, Russia, China, Ukraine, Iran and Turkey, use enhanced blast and thermobaric explosives. Russia has used them in Ukraine and Syria. Israel uses munitions that have variants featuring thermobaric warheads, but the use of thermobaric explosives has not been confirmed.

Fuel-air explosives are similar to thermobaric explosives, but function differently. Both are volumetric weapons, but fuel-air explosives disperse a cloud of fuel, then the explosion occurs.

Dense Inert Metal Explosives

Unsubstantiated claims of DIME munitions have regularly surfaced since 2006, when they were first alleged to have been used in Gaza. Similar claims have reappeared in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME) are typically used in munitions intended to reduce civilian harm. Non-reactive metals, like tungsten, added to the explosives reduce the area impacted by the blast, but increase the power. Often munitions filled with DIME replace steel casing with carbon fibre to reduce fragmentation.

Some sources refer to DIME as a multiphase blast explosive, a term that also covers some explosives with reactive metals. Photos from testing show mannequins near the blast coated in tungsten powder.

Some claims of DIME use in Gaza mention the presence of powder or microscopic shrapnel found on victims. “Peppering” and “tattooing” are mentioned (warning: graphic content) as common injuries in blast victims, where the explosion propels small debris like sand into the body, along with fragments of various sizes.

The US Air Force has accepted delivery of at least 500 DIME-filled GBU-39A/B bombs, and has used at least 23 in combat. No transfers of GBU-39 A/B FLM bombs from the US to any other country, including Israel, have been reported, and a Bellingcat analysis of GBU-39 strikes in Gaza between October 2023 and January 2026 did not find any evidence of this variant being used.

There is currently no conclusive evidence that militaries aside from the US have used DIME in combat.

Clues From Clouds

Clouds, and the colours of the smoke can provide clues about the type of explosive. However, chemical composition, environmental conditions, and location can all affect how explosions appear. 

Clouds

This footage, originally posted on social media in November 2025, shows an explosion in Gaza.

The Israeli army launched thermobaric and pressure bombs, supplied by the United States, on Gaza. These bombs, which burn at a temperature of 3,500 degrees Celsius, are capable of killing thousands in seconds, leaving no trace. pic.twitter.com/pZhoIfsazP

— China pulse (@Eng_china5) February 12, 2026

Video of an explosion in Gaza, falsely attributed as a thermobaric weapon. Source: X/@Eng_china5.

The visible cloud in the video is a condensation or Wilson cloud, caused by an explosive shockwave interacting with humid air. This same effect is visible in videos of the Beirut explosion in 2020, when ammonium nitrate exploded at the port after a fire.

Another view of the explosions in Beirut pic.twitter.com/efT5VlpMkj

— Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) August 4, 2020

Video of the 2020 Beirut ammonium nitrate explosion. Source: X/Borzou Daragahi.

Smoke colours

Colours in the smoke of an explosion can help identify the gases, which in turn can help identify the explosive material, Dr Rachel Lance told Bellingcat. “Yellow, orange, and red tones each indicate the presence of specific chemicals.” 

Black smoke means “the bomb produced a lot of fire and inefficiency, because materials burned instead of detonated, and was probably a homemade or improvised explosive”. White or light grey smoke indicates “an efficient detonation, and that tells us it was a pure, high-grade material inside,” Lance said.

Some munitions, like cruise or ballistic missiles, may have efficient high explosives, as well as low explosive propellants or fuel. The area targeted, such as buildings, may lead to dust or debris that obscure the gases created by the explosion. 

In some cases, multiple bright fireballs are launched into the sky, accompanied by a rapid humming or throbbing sound and bright flashes. This typically happens when solid-fuel rocket motors, like those in air defence or ballistic missiles, are burning or exploding.

Major secondary explosions after a U.S. airstrike in the vicinity of Higuerote Airport in Venezuela tonight. pic.twitter.com/NrFOVj9IfM

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) January 3, 2026

Venezuelan Buk Air Defense System rocket motors ‘cooking off’ after being targeted by US strikes in Jan. 2026. Source: X/Osinttechnical.

Geolocation

Geolocation of the explosion site can help identify or rule out potential explanations. Large explosions can be caused by much smaller bombs hitting storage sites or production sites for ammo. The geolocation of the video below indicated that the location hit was a storage area for missiles.

Qom today looks like it was hit by a GBU 57 bunker buster.

The GBU 57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator is a 30,000 pound bunker busting bomb designed to penetrate deep underground before detonating. pic.twitter.com/d4bGJ19nQb

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 11, 2026

Video shared by a user claiming this video shows the use of a GBU-57 “Massive Ordnance Penetrator”. A now-suspended user claimed the video showed the “Mother of All Bombs”. Source: Osint613.

Blast Effects on People

Misinformation regarding blast effects on people might lead to reports of harm to be wrongly dismissed or false claims about mystery weapons to spread.

In February 2026, claims of “vaporisation” or disintegration of people due to thermobaric weapon explosions appeared online. Days later, counterclaims argued that explosives can’t “disintegrate” people and thermal effects were not responsible.

According to multiple studies, even less powerful explosives can cause disintegration. When explosions occur in enclosed spaces, such as inside a building, they reflect shock waves, leading to increased blast effects.

Blast injuries are generally classified into four categories, based on what mechanism is causing the injuries.

The primary effect, the blast itself, “puts tremendous strains on human tissue, causing them to rip and tear, both internally and externally, so massive internal bleeding can occur,” Brian Castner, a weapons investigator for Amnesty International, told Bellingcat.

Primary injuries can lead to a variety of symptoms, including vertigo, vomiting blood, and bleeding from the ears. A viral post shared by the White House Press Secretary claimed to be firsthand testimony from a Venezuelan security guard following US strikes in Venezuela. The post alleged that the US used a sonic weapon without any supporting evidence, and the symptoms described are typical of primary blast injuries.

The secondary effect results from the metal fragments of the munition. Some weapons are specifically designed to break into uniform small pieces, Castner said. “Even small fragments, the size of a bullet, can break a bone, since the metal is flying through the air so quickly,” the weapons investigator explained.

Even single fragments can injure or kill people hundreds of metres away from a blast. People close to it may be largely disintegrated, often described (warning: graphic content) as “total body disruption” in Forensic Medicine.

“Combined, these blast and fragmentary effects can do horrific damage to the human body, and if a person is close enough to a large munitions detonation, leave little trace they ever existed,” Castner told Bellingcat.

A recent Bellingcat investigation into three specific US-made munitions used in Gaza found videos showing small pieces of human bodies consistent with total body disruption, at several different strikes within the dataset.

Explosions can also cause burns or thermal injuries. Temperature is not the most relevant factor, because “by the time a human body is exposed to the temperatures of a burning explosive, people will have severe trauma and death,” Dr Lance told Bellingcat.

In many real-world cases “the blast pressure reaches farther than the thermal flash,” Dr Sabrina Wahler said. “The thermal danger becomes much larger and longer lasting when the explosion occurs in a confined space, when the formulation supports continued burning with air, or when the detonation triggers secondary fires that keep generating heat well after the initial blast,” she noted.

Flash burns are often seen on exposed parts of the body close to the blast (warning: graphic content). Explosions that start fires or contain incendiary materials can result in severe burns.

Are These Explosives Legal?

Misinformation often raises questions about legality, with false claims that specific weapons are inherently illegal or misrepresenting how they work. This is one of the reasons that nations conduct legal reviews of new weapons, Michael Meier, a former Senior Advisor to the Army Judge Advocate General for Law of War, and current Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, told Bellingcat.

Thermobarics and DIME are legal if their use complies with specific principles of international humanitarian law (IHL) and the law of armed conflict (LOAC), such as proportionate and discriminate use, experts told Bellingcat.

“Even lawful weapons can be used in an unlawful manner”, Michael Meier said. One example is when they are directed against civilians or when they are used in a manner that breaches the principles of distinction or proportionality, he explained.

“The law’s ability to prevent harm is constrained by the compromises between military necessity and humanity made in its creation,” Dr Arthur van Coller, Professor of International Humanitarian Law at the STADIO Higher Education and a legal expert on thermobaric explosives, told Bellingcat.

“As a result, weapons that cause immense destruction may remain lawful (even nuclear weapons) if they fit within legal definitions, even when their humanitarian impact is severe,” van Coller explained.

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The post Explosive Misinformation: A Guide to Mushroom Clouds, ‘Sonic Weapons’ and Disintegration appeared first on bellingcat.

The US appears to have deployed the Gator Scatterable Mine system over Kafari, a village near Shiraz, in southern Iran overnight. Several people were killed according to Iranian media. 

Three experts told Bellingcat the munitions appeared to be air-delivered US-made Gator anti-tank mines. 

The US is the only participant in the Iran war known to possess Gator Scatterable Mines. 

Bellingcat asked the US Department of Defense whether it had dropped the mines overnight, but did not receive a response at time of publication.

Dr NR Jenzen-Jones, Director of Armament Research Services, told Bellingcat that the images appeared to show US-made anti-tank landmines. 

“These images show what appear to be American BLU-91/B scatterable anti-tank landmines. 

“The BLU-91/B is dispensed from the CBU-78/B or CBU-89/B air-delivered cargo bombs (cluster munitions). 

“The presence of square ‘aeroballistic adaptors’ indicates that the mines seen here were delivered by air. Similar mines can be dispensed from the vehicle- or helicopter-based Volcano system.”

Amael Kotlarski, Weapons Team leader at Janes, also identified the mines as BLU-91/B ‘Gator’ anti-tank mines. Kotlarski told Bellingcat “the BLU-91/B is dispensed from either the US Air Force’s CBU-89/B (72 BLU-91/B and 22 BLU-92/B) or the US Navy’s CBU-78/B (45 BLU-91/B and 15 BLU-92/B).”

He elaborated that the BLU/92B is an anti-personnel mine, similar in appearance to a BLU/91B, though not identical.

“No BLU-92/B is observable in the photographic evidence presented so far. This could be that they have not been found, or that the dispensers were loaded solely with AT mines to help reduce the risk to civilians.”

Gator Scatterable Mines System

The Gator system is an air-delivered dispenser system or cargo bomb that distributes mines over an area. These dispensers contain a mixture of either 94 or 60 BLU-92/B anti-personnel and BLU-91/B anti-vehicle mines depending on which dispenser is used. These dispensers release the mines over an area of approximately 200 by 650 metres.  In the images reviewed by Bellingcat, it is not clear which dispenser was used, or how many dispensers were deployed.

Andro Mathewson, an independent open source analyst, who formerly worked at landmine-clearing NGO The HALO Trust, told Bellingcat the images showed BLU-91/B mines.

Some of the images of the mines posted by Iranian media show an aeroballistic adaptor. The aeroballistic adaptor is only present on the BLU-91/B and BLU-92/B, not on other mines within the US Family of Scatterable Mines (FASCAM), indicating that these were deployed from a Gator system aircraft dispenser.

BLU-91/B and BLU-92/B Mines and Self-Destruct Features

Both BLU-91/B and BLU-92/B mines are activated two minutes after being deployed; however, a very small number can fail to properly arm and explode. These mines also have self-destruct features with a variable delay which means they may randomly explode hours or days after they are dispensed. They may also explode if disturbed. These features make them particularly dangerous.

The self-destruct can be set for 4 hours, 48 hours, or 15 days, but the mines may self-destruct before then.

So far, only visual evidence of magnetically influenced BLU-91/B anti-tank mines has been posted online, but these mines are usually deployed alongside the anti-personnel BLU-92/B. The BLU-92/B also deploys tripwires.

In addition to the self-destruct features, the BLU-92/B anti-personnel mines have an anti-handling device (AHD) that is intended to make the mine explode when disturbed. While BLU-91/B anti-tank mines do not have an anti-handling device (AHD), they “may detonate when moved, because the mine may sense a significant change from its original orientation.”

Amael Kotlarski of Janes told Bellingcat that “The mine will go off if subjected to significant movement.” This could explain local reports that a man was killed when he picked one up near his car. 

Uniquely US Weapons

The US is the only participant in the war known to possess these mines. They were developed after the US stopped supplying arms to Iran. A review of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Arms Transfer Database, and US Major Arms Sales does not show any transfers of these mines to Israel.

Dr Jenzen-Jones also told Bellingcat that “Scatterable anti-tank landmines may have been employed to deny vehicles access to or from so-called ‘missile cities’. This could both prevent TELs [missile launch vehicles] from leaving, and limit efforts to re-establish access to facilities (for example, by preventing excavators from operating at collapsed entrances).”

Bellingcat geolocated some of the mines to the village of Kafari, Iran (coordinates 29.50544059, 52.48745447 and 29.50964897, 52.48920842). This video shows at least three mines approximately two kilometres away from the entrance to what is reported to be Shiraz South Missile Base, an Iranian “missile city.” 

Bellingcat asked the US Department of Defense to confirm whether they dropped mines in this area, how many were deployed, and what the intended target was. They did not respond at time of publication.

Bellingcat was unable to determine how many more mines were scattered over the village. Some mines may not yet have been found due to where they landed. 

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Bellingcat’s Carlos Gonzales and Logan Williams as well as Felix Matteo Lommerse contributed research to this article.

The post Evidence Points to US Scattering Mines over Iranian Village appeared first on bellingcat.

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Bellingcat has geolocated footage of multiple Tomahawk cruise missiles travelling through Iraqi airspace towards Iran, either in violation of its airspace or with Iraq’s consent.

Bellingcat identified at least 20 individual cruise missiles and geolocated them over Iraqi Kurdistan including alongside Mount Piramagrun, in the Zagros Mountain range, and approximately 50 km southeast of the city of Kirkuk.

Modern Tomahawks can travel up to 1600 km, and are used for precision strikes. At the start of the war, the US had a carrier strike group in the Mediterranean and the Arabian Sea, as well as some independently deployed destroyers.

The US is the only participant in the war known to possess Tomahawks, which can be launched by ships or submarines. US President Donald Trump said at a press conference on Monday that Iran “also has some Tomahawks”. Official ​​government reports on Iran’s military balance don’t support this claim.

Considering the distance of US vessels to the geolocated missiles, the missiles seen in the videos were most likely fired from the Mediterranean Sea, Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told Bellingcat.

Red Sea launches would be pushing the maximum range, and US Navy ships were not known to have been in the Persian Gulf at the start of the war, Lair said.

Brian Finucane, a senior adviser with the US Program at the International Crisis Group, told Bellingcat that without the consent of Iraq and Syria, the intrusion of Tomahawk missiles into their airspace “would violate its sovereignty and international law”. 

We asked the US State Department and Department of Defense as well as the foreign ministries of Iraq and Syria, if ​​the US had an agreement with Iraq or Syria to utilise their airspace for cruise missiles targeting a third country. The Department of Defense told Bellingcat they “had nothing to provide” while neither the Iraqi nor Syrian ministry had responded at the time of publication.

On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and stressed that Iraqi airspace and territory should not be used for any military action targeting neighbouring countries, the prime minister’s media office said.

Bellingcat geolocated at least eight videos showing Tomahawk missiles over Iraq. The videos show at least 20 individual Tomahawk missiles, based on the longest uninterrupted video we reviewed.

The below graphic shows all Tomahawk missiles Bellingcat has geolocated, which includes additional missiles identified outside of Iraq.

Click the arrows in the map below to view the verified missile sightings, including the original footage and geolocation analysis.

Interactive map showing the approximate locations of US carrier groups in the region at the start of the war, with a 1600 km range, in relation to Tomahawks geolocated by Bellingcat. We included a possible Red Sea launch point for visualisation, reference and comparison purposes only. The white arrows indicate the location of Tomahawk sightings. Their respective directions of travel are shown by default. All coordinates and directions shown are approximate. Source: Logan Williams/Bellingcat.

These missiles don’t always make it to their intended target. In addition to footage of the airborne missiles, Bellingcat also identified remnants of a Tomahawk missile that had crashed outside Kafr Zita in northwest Syria.

Missiles Fired From the Sea

On the first day of the war, Feb 28, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) published footage of Tomahawk missiles being fired from the sea. Later on March 1, CENTCOM released additional video of the USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) firing a Tomahawk missile, while operating in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. 

According to a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analysis, more than 160 Tomahawk missiles may have been used in the first 100 hours of the war, and “they would have been used to destroy Iranian air defenses and other counter-air capabilities and create permissive conditions for follow-on attacks”.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) fires Tomahawk land attack missiles in support of Operation Epic Fury, Mar. 1, 2026. (U.S. Navy video)

Tomahawk Flights Through Iraqi Airspace

The footage analysed by Bellingcat showing cruise missiles travelling over land is consistent with the typical flight profile of Tomahawks, which cruise at low altitude along pre-programmed routes toward distant targets. 

According to the US Navy, “Tomahawk cruise missiles are designed to fly at extremely low altitudes at high subsonic speeds, and are piloted over an evasive route by several mission tailored guidance systems.”

This explains why they are sometimes filmed by civilians during transit. Similar sightings have previously been recorded during US conflicts in the Middle East. 

Bellingcat analysed terrain features and solar data in the footage and confirmed the location and approximate direction of travel of the Tomahawk missiles. We found that they followed the terrain closely, and appeared to follow two different valleys near the Iraq-Iran border.

The Zagros mountain range stretches across much of Iran as well as northern Iraq. The mountains of this valley would provide details for the Tomahawks’ terrain matching guidance, and hide them from Iranian radar detection.

Click the arrows in the map below to view the verified missile sightings, including the original footage and geolocation analysis.

Interactive map showing the locations of Tomahawk sightings. The missiles were travelling through Iraqi airspace towards Iran in valleys near the Iraq-Iran border, and near Kirkuk. The respective directions of travel are shown (white arrows). All coordinates and directions shown are approximate. Source: Logan Williams/Bellingcat.

Other Geolocated Footage 

In a video filmed in Tehran and posted on the first day of the war, six Tomahawk missiles can be seen flying over the Qurkhane Bus Terminal in Tehran, as an anti-aircraft gun on a nearby building fires at them. Other gunfire can be heard in the distance.

Bellingcat previously geolocated a Tomahawk strike in Manib, Iran, near a school where 175 people, including children, were reported to have been killed.

A final video analysed by Bellingcat, posted on March 3, shows 13 Tomahawk missiles flying past a commercial ship in the direction of Iran, the M/V MAERSK BOSTON, while it was off the coast of Oman, according to solar, visual and Marine Traffic data.

New Tomahawk Variants

Since the beginning of the war, two new variants of Tomahawk missiles have been observed.

One Tomahawk variant seen publicly for the first time, distinguished by its visible black body, believed to be a stealth coating. Other missiles appear to have wings angled forwards, a modification designed to make them harder to detect by radar, according to an analysis by The War Zone.

Clobbering

Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told Bellingcat that Tomahawks have GPS guidance and use terrain matching to determine their location. When there is an error in guidance, some missiles can “clobber” and hit the ground.

The US stopped firing Tomahawk missiles over Saudi Arabia during the 2003 Iraq War after some crashed in the country while attempting to strike targets. About ten Tomahawk missiles crashed during that war, with some landing in Iran and Turkey as well.

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Bellingcat’s Logan Williams and Felix Matteo Lommerse contributed research to this article. Livio Spani, Anisa Shabir, Afton Briones, Mathis Noizet, and Nicole Kiess from Bellingcat’s Volunteer Community also contributed to this piece.

Bellingcat is a non-profit and the ability to carry out our work is dependent on the kind support of individual donors. If you would like to support our work, you can do so here. You can also subscribe to our Patreon channel here. Subscribe to our Newsletter and follow us on Bluesky here, Instagram here, Reddit here and YouTube here.

The post Tracing Tomahawks: US Missiles Bound for Iran Spotted Over Iraq appeared first on bellingcat.

New video footage shows a US Tomahawk missile hitting an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) facility in Minab, Iran, on Feb 28, showing for the first time that the US struck the area.

The footage, released by Mehr News and geolocated by Bellingcat, also shows smoke already rising from the vicinity of the girls’ school where 175 people were reportedly killed, including children.

New video footage shows a US Tomahawk missile hitting an IRGC facility in Minab, Iran, on Feb 28, showing for the first time that the US struck the area. The footage also shows smoke already rising from the vicinity of the girls’ school, where 175 people were reportedly killed. pic.twitter.com/4jBXrNcRJO

— Trevor Ball (@Easybakeovensz) March 8, 2026

The footage would appear to contradict US President Donald Trump’s claim that it was an Iranian missile that hit the school.

The US is the only participant in the war that is known to have Tomahawk missiles. Israel is not known to have Tomahawk missiles.

The red cone superimposed over this image shows the estimated area of impact of the missile visible in the footage. The graphic also shows the position of a clinic, the school and other damaged buildings.

Planet Labs satellite imagery shows that only two structures within this red cone were damaged, including a clinic.

The other structure appears to be an earth-covered magazine or bunker.

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Giancarlo Fiorella and Merel Zoet contributed research to this piece.

Bellingcat is a non-profit and the ability to carry out our work is dependent on the kind support of individual donors. If you would like to support our work, you can do so here. You can also subscribe to our Patreon channel here. Subscribe to our Newsletter and follow us on Bluesky here, Instagram here, Reddit here and YouTube here.

The post Video Shows US Tomahawk Missile Strike Next to Girls’ School in Iran appeared first on bellingcat.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has dropped 5,000 bombs on Iran since the United States and Israel launched an attack last week, according to a statement by the IAF on March 4.

Bellingcat has monitored weapons used in the first few days of the war, and strikes across the region, including those that caused civilian harm. Some weapons, such as the US Precision Strike Missile, have seen their first use in combat. A variant of the Tomahawk missile, previously unknown to the public, was also used.

On March 3, the IAF posted three images in three separate posts showing a bomb not publicly seen in Israeli service before. The Israel Air Force released these photos accompanied with claims they were of jets participating in the strikes on Iran. Experts told Bellingcat that this bomb appears to have an incendiary component, and may be one intended to destroy chemical or biological warfare agents.

The images appear to show 2,000-pound-class air-delivered bombs fitted with Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit with a red band around the nose. Red is commonly used to denote an incendiary, while yellow indicates high explosive effect.

We identified key details about the munition and shared the images with two weapons experts.

Apparent Similarities to the MK 84

Dr N.R. Jenzen-Jones, the director of Armament Research Services (ARES), a weapons intelligence consulting company, told Bellingcat these images show a 2,000-pound-class air-delivered bomb fitted with a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit.

Frederic Gras, an Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) expert, also told Bellingcat that the bomb could be of the US MK 80 series, or an Israeli copy, and has a JDAM guidance kit.

The US JDAM bomb guidance kit is designed for use with bombs that use the MK 80 series bomb bodies, and the closely related BLU-109 “bunker buster” body. 

The Open Source Munitions Portal added the munition to their website on March 3, describing it as “visually similar to a MK 84 general purpose aerial bomb”, while noting that “the marking scheme is distinctly different”. The War Zone also reported on these distinct markings, and possible munitions it could be.

“The combination of yellow and red bands probably indicates both a high explosive and incendiary payload, which would be consistent with a 2,000-pound-class bomb of MK 84 form factor known as the BLU-119/B Crash Prompt Agent Defeat (CrashPAD),” Dr Jenzen-Jones told Bellingcat.

Frederic Gras, an Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) expert said that the US and Israel both use red markings to indicate an incendiary payload, or effect. The bomb could be a full incendiary payload, with the yellow band indicating a bursting charge, or it could be a bomb primarily with a high explosive component, and a secondary incendiary effect, Gras added.

Red Bands on Israeli Weapons

It’s not the first time the Israeli Air Forces has published weapon images with red bands marking the warhead or payload section of a munition. Shortly after the start of the Gaza War in 2023, the IAF posted a photo which included an Apache attack helicopter with a Hellfire missile with a red band. The IAF deleted the post and replaced it with a similar photo of an Apache without this missile.

This fueled speculation online that this could be an incendiary or the thermobaric variant of the Hellfire missile, the AGM-114N. It has been approved by the US for sale to Israel.

M825A1 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles, munitions designed to create smoke, used by Israel also have a red band and a yellow band around the nose. 

Israeli munitions which are not incendiary have also been spotted with light red bands over the fuel tanks for munitions with jet engines, such as the Delilah cruise missile.

Designed To Target Chemical or Biological Weapon Stockpiles

The markings are consistent with the US-produced CrashPAD, but “given the possible CBW [chemical and biological warfare] threats Israel has long faced from Iran, it is entirely plausible that an Israeli analogue was developed,” Dr Jenzen-Jones told Bellingcat.

The CrashPAD contains white phosphorus and high explosives, and is designed to destroy biological and chemical warfare agents according to US government documents.

Dr Jenzen-Jones told Bellingcat that the CrashPAD is the only publicly known weapon of this type utilising a MK 84 bomb body although there are several programs producing similar munitions. A penetrating variant is known as the Shredder but it uses a modified BLU-109 bomb body, which is visually different from the MK 84 bomb body visible in the IAF photos.

CrashPAD has been in the US inventory for nearly two decades. “Chemical Agent Defeat weapons, such as Crashpad, are not illegal”, and they must undergo a legal review to ensure compliance with US domestic and international law, Michael Meier, former Senior Advisor to the Army Judge Advocate General for Law of War and current Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, told Bellingcat.

“The express purpose for the reservation is that these weapons, such as Crashpad, are the only weapons that can effectively destroy certain targets such as biological weapons facilities, for which high heat would be required to eliminate bio-toxins,” Meier said.

Dr Arthur van Coller, Professor of International Humanitarian Law at the STADIO Higher Education, told Bellingcat that “if the CrashPAD is used as designed, i.e. to target chemical or biological weapon stockpiles sufficiently removed from civilian populations, then its use is consistent with IHL [International Humanitarian Law] and treaty law, even under CCW [Certain Conventional Weapons], Protocol III.”

Dr Arthur van Coller also said that the “United States and Israel are State Parties to the CCW itself,” but only the US is also a party to Protocol III on incendiary weapons, albeit with reservations, which means that Israel “is not legally bound by Protocol III’s restrictions on incendiary weapons (including those applying to CrashPAD) under treaty law”. Iran is not a party to the CCW at all.

The US is a major supplier of weapons to Israel, and has sent thousands of MK 80 series and BLU-109 bombs to the country. Israel also produces some MK 80 series bombs.

Israel and US Responses

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which publishes details of some major arms sales, does not mention any transfers of the CrashPAD. Bellingcat asked the Department of State if the CrashPAD or weapons with similar capabilities were transferred to Israel. Bellingcat also asked the Department of State if they assessed that Iran had a chemical weapons program. A State Department Spokesperson told Bellingcat that “The Trump administration backs Israel’s right to self-defense” and referred Bellingcat to the IDF for questions about procurement and munitions used.

The US Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication. 

Bellingcat asked the IDF what the bomb was, if it was supplied by the US, if it contained white phosphorus, thermobaric or fuel air explosives, and if the IDF assessed that Iran had a chemical weapons program. The IDF told Bellingcat that it “will not be able to provide details regarding the types of munitions it uses. With that said the IDF uses only legal weapons and ammunition.”

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Bellingcat’s Carlos Gonzales contributed research to this article. Livio Spaini from Bellingcat’s Volunteer Community also contributed to this piece.

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The post The Incendiary Bomb Never Seen in Israel Before appeared first on bellingcat.