Key Takeaways:
- Iran has indiscriminately fired more than 300 missiles towards Israel, more than 50% of which are cluster munitions, scattering smaller projectiles across a wider region and endangering more civilians.
- In a report on cluster munitions, CNN made a false equivalence between the Iranian regime’s use of such munitions and Israel’s use of them in 2006.
- This comparison omits the critical distinction that Israel has never indiscriminately targeted civilian populations with these weapons as the Iranian regime does.
Since the beginning of the war with the Islamic Republic of Iran, images and videos have emerged almost daily showing multiple streaks of light flashing through the night sky over Israel. Of the more than 300 missiles Iran has launched at Israel since the start of the war, around 50% have broken apart mid-air, releasing smaller submunitions that scatter across a wide area.
They are cluster munitions. They are deadly. And when they are used to target civilian populations indiscriminately, they are illegal.
The public safety video below, produced by Israel’s Homefront Command, demonstrates how seriously Israel takes the threat to its population.
The widespread destruction these munitions can cause is precisely why the Iranian regime has deployed them against Israel. The damage to civilian infrastructure – and the injuries and deaths they can inflict – are exactly what Iran hopes to achieve. Each warhead disperses several kilograms of explosives over a radius that can extend more than 10 kilometers.
A report by CNN’s Jeremy Diamond on the destruction caused by these weapons and their legal implications initially appeared promising. Until Diamond states that Israel has previously deployed cluster munitions in other wars.
This week, Iran and Hezbollah launched their first joint attacks on Israel, while Iran has been using cluster munitions to try and pierce Israeli defences. @JDiamond1 saw the destruction on the ground, in this report. pic.twitter.com/5dY0rrHlGK
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) March 14, 2026
The key difference Diamond fails to mention? Israel has never deployed cluster munitions indiscriminately with the intent to cause maximum harm to civilians.
Israel Versus Iran’s Use of Cluster Munitions
Israel did deploy cluster munitions during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. However, the nature of their use differed fundamentally from that of the Iranian regime today. When Israel went to war with Hezbollah in 2006, the munitions it deployed were targeting Hezbollah-controlled areas, specifically in southern Lebanon, where the terrorist organization had embedded itself. They were not deployed widely across Lebanon with the intent of deliberately targeting civilian population centers. Following the war, Israel’s use of cluster munitions was deemed by a state inquiry to have been used legally in order to stop Hezbollah rocket fire.
The IDF focused its operations on Hezbollah infrastructure and operatives. In doing so, the IDF operated in accordance with the principle of proportionality under the laws of armed conflict by weighing the anticipated military advantage of a strike against the potential harm to civilians. Civilian harm is a factor the IDF has consistently considered, and the military has taken steps to mitigate such risks — even when doing so complicates operational goals.
The Iranian regime, by contrast, shows no such restraint. Its use of these munitions over Israeli cities demonstrates the opposite objective of maximizing civilian casualties.
The key distinction between Israel’s historical use of cluster munitions and the Iranian regime’s current use of them is therefore not the weapon itself, but in the intent and the target. For Israel in 2006, this meant targeting terrorists and terrorist infrastructure, whereas for the Iranian regime today, this means targeting civilian population centers.
CNN’s careful omission of this reality seeks to portray Israel as careless about civilian populations as the Iranian regime is. But the situation is starkly different when considering the scale and extent of damage the Iranian regime has caused in Israel.
More photos of the impact sites in central Israel, caused by an Iranian cluster bomb warhead. pic.twitter.com/k7inWs6itY
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 8, 2026
This reality has not stopped CNN from downplaying the destruction. Of the countless images showing apartment buildings being severely damaged, cars torn apart, and highways with a gaping hole in the middle, CNN chose to illustrate the story with a photograph of a window bearing only a crack.
If you wanted to illustrate the dangers posed by Iranian missiles carrying cluster bombs, why would you use a photo of a damaged window?
Unless you’re a @CNN editor looking to diminish the deadly risks for the Israeli civilians the Islamic Republic is deliberately targeting. https://t.co/lAvJ5bZzI5 pic.twitter.com/zENa8NBMEI
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 15, 2026
CNN is not the only outlet to downplay these dangerous munitions. Just last week, The Times of London referred to cluster munitions as merely “inconvenient,” rather than acknowledging the very real danger they pose.
Seriously, @thetimes?!
Inconvenient is when you miss the bus to a doctor’s appointment or run out of milk.
Cluster munitions raining from the sky are a little more than just “inconvenient.”Leave it to Gabrielle Weiniger to whitewash Iran’s war crimes. pic.twitter.com/qp0RfqR8N6
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 11, 2026
There is no genuine comparison to be made between the Iranian regime, which deploys terrorist tactics to inflict the utmost damage upon Israeli civilians, and Israel, which goes to the furthest extent to limit civilian harm. By blurring this distinction, CNN has done more than misinform its audience. It has distorted the moral and legal framework surrounding the war against terrorism that Israel is fighting.
The Iranian regime’s use of such weapons is intended to spread destruction across civilian areas and maximize harm. Any attempt to equate this with Israel’s conduct in previous wars ignores the fundamental difference between deliberately targeting civilians and working to avoid them.
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