Note: ERW = explosive remnants of war.

Mine Contamination

The Islamic Republic of Iran is contaminated by antipersonnel and antivehicle mines, mainly as a result of the 1980–1988 war with Iraq. Mine contamination is concentrated in five western provinces bordering Iraq, although the extent of the remaining threat is unknown.

Minister of Defense Hossein Dehghan said in 2014 that the 4,500km² of mine and ERW contamination left by the Iran-Iraq war in the five western provinces had been reduced to 280km².[1] In February 2014, the Iran Mine Action Center (IRMAC) reported that the five Western provinces had remaining contamination totaling 250km².[2]

However, two antivehicle mine incidents occurred in early 2014 in the Lut desert spanning central and eastern Iran where police reportedly placed mines as a measure against drug traffickers, pointing to contamination outside the five most affected provinces.[3] Sources report that security forces continue to emplace mines in areas close to Iran’s borders in order to deter cross-border smugglers and infiltration by anti-regime groups. A further complication for contamination estimates are reports of continuing casualties in areas that were supposed to have been cleared.

Cluster Munition Contamination

The extent of cluster munition contamination in Iran is not known. Some contamination is believed to remain from the Iran-Iraq war when cluster munitions were widely used in Khuzestan and to a lesser extent in Kermanshah. Iraqi forces used mostly French- and Russian-made submunitions in attacks on oil facilities at Abadan and Mah-Shahr, and Spanish munitions in attacks on troop positions at Dasht-e-Azadegan. Air Force explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams cleared many unexploded submunitions after attacks but contamination remains around Mah-Shahr and the port of Bandar Imam Khomeini, according to a retired Iranian Air Force colonel.[4]

Program Management

IRMAC was established as the national mine action center in 2005 and made responsible for planning, data managing, survey, procurement, and the accreditation of demining operators. IRMAC’s director is General Mohammad Hussein Amir Ahmadi and many staff are believed to be serving or former military personnel.

IRMAC issues clearance contracts to private companies, army engineers, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. It also coordinates mine action with the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Interior, the Management and Planning Organization of Iran, and other relevant ministries and organizations, and handles international relations.[5]

Information management

IRMAC maintains a mine action database but it is not known if it is comprehensive, actively maintained, and up to date.

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) also maintains a mine action database recording the results of its own clearance contracts.[6]

Operators

Mine clearance in Iran is mainly conducted by the Iranian Army and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

IRMAC combines the roles of regulator and operator, with demining teams and support staff employing around 250 personnel deployed in five affected provinces.[7]

Commercial operators include AOM Co., Immen Sazan Omran Pars International Co., Immen Zamin Espadana, and Solh Afarinan-e Bedoun-e Marz (SABMco). Two other companies, Moshaver Omran Iranand ZPP International Co., undertake quality assurance (QA)/quality control (QC).[8]

Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC), the development arm of the NIOC, contracts and supervises commercial operators conducting clearance of Iran’s oil and gas producing areas, which are concentrated in mine-affected areas of south western Iran bordering Iraq.[9]

International operators are not believed to have been active in Iran since 2008.

Land Release

Iran has not published details of mine or cluster munition survey or clearance in recent years. In 2017, President Hassan Rouhani observed that countries that had supplied Iraq with mines during the Iran-Iraq war had not provided Iran with the technology to clear them.[10]

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the primary mine action research in 2018 and shared all its country-level landmine reports (from“Clearing the Mines 2018”) and country-level cluster munition reports (from “Clearing Cluster Munition Remnants 2018”) with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.