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Key developments since May 2000: According to Iranian officials, in the year 2000, more than 880,000 mines and UXO, and 30,000 hectares of land, were cleared. Since 1988, over 750,000 hectares of mined land and 9 million mines and UXO have been cleared. The Medical Engineering Research Center estimates that there are about 300 mine and UXO casualties in Iran every year.
Iran has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Representatives from Iran’s Permanent Mission in Geneva attended the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000 and meetings of the intersessional Standing Committees in May 2001, but made no statements or interventions. Iran abstained in voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V in November 2000, as it had done on similar resolutions in support of the Mine Ban Treaty in previous years. Iran is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons but is a member of the Conference on Disarmament.
Iran is a producer of antipersonnel mines, but it is not known if production is on-going or if it commences to meet specific requirements. Mines manufactured by Iran include the YM-I antipersonnel mine (a copy of the Italian TS-50), and the Mk. 4 antipersonnel mine (similar to the Egyptian T/78 and Israeli No. 4).[1] Iran is believed to have been a significant exporter of antipersonnel mines. In 1997 it declared a moratorium on the export of antipersonnel mines, but it is not known if this moratorium is still in effect.[2] In the past Iran imported significant amounts of landmines.
The size and composition of Iran’s antipersonnel mine stockpile is not known. Iran is believed to maintain minefields along its borders with Iraq and Afghanistan.
The mined areas in western Iran are the result of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq conflict. Government officials claim that during the war, some 12-16 million landmines were planted in Iran in an area of over 4 million hectares.[3] The minefields emplaced by Iran are believed to contain the following types of mines: PMN and M14 antipersonnel mines, and TMN 46 and M19 antitank mines. The minefields emplaced by Iraq are likely to include: (Antipersonnel) VS 50, TS 50, Type 72A, PMA 3, PMN, PMD-6, PRB M35, PMN HE, T 71, POMZ-2M, VALMARA 69, PROM 1; (Antitank) VS 1.6, VS 2.2, Type 72, TM 46, TMN-46, TM 57.
The number of mines Iran has emplaced on its own borders is not known.
The Ministry of the Interior decides on the location for mine clearance activities based on political, economic, and social priorities. The Iranian Armed Forces, specifically the Engineer Units in the Army, are responsible for mine clearance projects. When specialized knowledge of air-delivered weapons is needed, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal units from the Air Force are used. There are fifteen Demining Groups comprised of 5,150 military personnel including doctors and paramedics.
Iran has undertaken massive mine clearance efforts since 1988. Brigadier-General Hossein Mahmoudi, a senior military official, was reported as stating that since the end of the Iran-Iraq War over 750,000 hectares of mined land and 9 million mines and UXO have been cleared.[4] On average, about 700,000 mines and 300,000 UXO per year have been cleared.
In the year 2000, more than 880,000 mines and UXO were defused, and 30,000 hectares (300 million square meters) of land were cleared in Iran, according to statistics provided by the Ministry of the Interior. Approximately 3,000 people total took part in the demining operation of which 800 people were working at any given time. In 2001 the Iranian Demining Program will target an area of 100,000 hectares for clearance.
A Norwegian and an Austrian oil company have contracted the Iranian Army to demine a section of western Iran located near the border with Iraq. The area undergoing mine clearance will be the site for new oil production. The initiative includes the first known direct cooperation with a foreign organization (Norwegian People’s Aid) in respect to demining.
A UN Development Program mine action program for western Iran has been on-hold since 1999, awaiting funding and approval by the government.
In 2000, the Society for the Protection of Victims of Mines and UXO was registered with the Ministry of the Interior. This is Iran’s first NGO to focus on mine action.
On 24-26 April 2001 the Medical Engineering Research Center (MERC) held its second seminar on landmines at Shahid Beheshti Medical University, the second largest medical university in Iran. The Trauma Care Foundation in cooperation with the Tromso Mine Awareness Center provided assistance. During the three-day training workshop in Tehran, experts spoke on trauma and landmines to approximately 25 participants, including surgeons and general practitioners.
MERC is also cooperating with the Welfare Department and the Deputy Department of Prevention on a project to determine the number of casualties caused by landmines in mine-infested areas. The Deputy Department of Prevention is conducting the study, based on a pilot project in Kurdistan province. An educational component of the project aims to teach children how to identify and avoid mines and UXO.
According to studies conducted by the Medical Engineering Research Center, there are about 300 mine and UXO casualties in Iran every year and the mortality rate stands at 36 percent.
Instances of reporting of mine incidents in Iran have increased. Brigadier-General Hossein Mahmoudi was reported to have stated that over 700 Iranian military personnel have been killed or injured during mine-sweeping operations.[5] In April 2001, in the Mousian Region in the southwestern province of Ilam, six Iranians soldiers were killed after stepping on mines.[6] In February 2001, an Iranian army commander on a demining team in the southwest section of the country died as the result of a mine explosion.[7] In March 2001, two five-year-olds, two nine-year-olds and one six-year-old died in a landmine explosion at an abandoned military base in Oshnavich in the border province of West Azerbaijan.[8] The state news agency, IRNA, reported that two shepherds, aged 20 and 32 years, were killed by a mine in western border city Mehran in March 2001.[9]
Wounded military personnel receive medical services including a pension, prostheses, and rehabilitation from the army. Civilians who are injured by mines or UXO, many of whom are nomads, are referred to the relevant governor general departments who then assign them to a public or private department. Services vary depending upon the department in which the person is placed. In 1999, the National Society of the Red Crescent completed construction on a prosthetic/orthotic center to train Iranian and foreign technicians.[10]
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[1] Jane’s Mines and Mine Clearance, 1999-2000, online update, 18 November 1999.
[2] Statement by Ambassador S. M.H. Adeli, to the Signing Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty, Ottawa, 1-4 December 1997; Statement by Ambassador Mehdi Danesh Yazdi to the UN, 17 November 1998.
[3] Statement by Amb. Adeli, Ottawa, 1-4 December 1997, cites 16 million; more recent estimates are 12 million antipersonnel and antitank mines laid during the war.
[4] “6 Iranian Soldiers Killed in Mine Defusing,” Xinhua News Agency, 1 May 2001. 750,000 hectares is equivalent to 7,500 square kilometers or 7,500,000,000 square meters.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] “Five children killed in Iran landmine explosion,” Agence France-Presse, 17 March 2001.
[8] Ibid.; “Two killed in Iran landmine blast,” Agence France-Presse, 29 March 2001.
[9] “Two killed in Iran landmine blast,” Agence France-Presse, 29 March 2001.
[10] ICRC, 1999 Annual Report on Iran, 31 August 2000.
