The US military has developed strike plans that include the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, the “mother of all bombs,” against Iran. The weapon has not been used. The plans would take effect only if President Donald Trump orders combat operations to resume, and he has made no such decision.
The targets include Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, among them Pickaxe Mountain, where the US and Israel believe Iran has stored components of its nuclear programme. The plan places the attack before a US pullback from the CENTCOM region, which points to a strike followed quickly by withdrawal. Advisers have discussed actions that would let Washington present the outcome as a symbolic victory.
The White House has declined to discuss sensitive military planning, saying only that Trump keeps all options open to ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.
The weapon
The GBU-43/B is a GPS-guided bomb weighing about 21,600 pounds. The US has used it in combat once, in Afghanistan in 2017. It is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal by blast, though a heavier conventional bomb exists.
It is built to produce a huge blast across a wide area. Deep penetration is outside its design. That matters because the nuclear sites Washington may want to hit, such as Fordow and the Pickaxe Mountain complex under construction, are heavily fortified and deeply buried. A MOAB is unlikely to destroy them. Even people involved in the planning doubt it could achieve Trump’s stated objectives or tip the balance of the war.
What the plan is for
The value lies in the effect on Iran’s calculations. A MOAB strike would give Trump an option short of restarting full combat operations that could shift the status quo. Its main advantage would be psychological.
The timing is tied to US politics. Trump has said he will not relaunch strikes before the midterms, which fall in early November, so any use would most likely come after them, if it comes at all.
Risks
A weapon with this blast radius is hard to use near populated areas. Civilians would be at risk. Legal experts have already questioned the harm caused by US use of 2,000-pound bombs on Iran, and the MOAB is more than ten times heavier.
Retaliation is the other concern. A strike would likely draw a major Iranian response, potentially against neighbouring states that host US forces. Iran has already shown it can reach them. Bahrain has intercepted 125 missiles and 211 drones since the war began, and Iranian attacks damaged the US Navy Fifth Fleet’s headquarters base there.
The plans give Trump a dramatic option that stops short of renewed war. Whether it is ever used depends on the state of ceasefire and nuclear talks, the US election calendar, and whether Washington judges a symbolic blow worth the retaliation it could bring.
