US Considers Using ‘Mother of All Bombs’ Against Iran

Headline USA ^ | October 16, 2026 | Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com

[Red Badger]

The MOAB is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal and has been used only once before in a strike on a village in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province in 2017

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The US military has drawn up new strike plans against Iran that include potentially using the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed the “mother of all bombs,” according to a report from CNN.

The MOAB is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal and has been used only once before in a strike on a village in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province in 2017. The US said the strike killed dozens of ISIS-K fighters, and the now-defunct US-backed Afghan government said no civilians were killed because they evacuated due to the ISIS occupation. But since returning, the residents have dealt with environmental effects and the damage from the attack, which destroyed about 30 civilian homes.

The MOAB is about 30 feet long, and due to its size, it must be dropped from a C-130 cargo aircraft close to the intended target, meaning that any MOAB strike on Iran would be vulnerable to Iranian air defenses.

The CNN report said that the potential target of the MOAB includes Iranian energy infrastructure, with one source telling the outlet that President Trump ordered the military to develop additional strike packages against Iranian targets that include “a lot of energy infrastructure” and the potential use of a MOAB.

The other potential target is Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, known in Iran as Kolang Kouh. The US and Israel have alleged there may be nuclear activity underneath the mountain, allegations that Iranian officials have denied. The problem with a MOAB strike is that it is designed for a massive surface-level blast, not for penetrating underground like the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), the bunker-busting bomb that the US dropped on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025, which is heavier than the MOAB but carries less explosive.

Sources speaking to CNN said a potential MOAB strike could be more of a psychological operation. “POTUS has unfortunately put himself in a situation where he is almost compelled to do something and, without the ammunition designed to penetrate that level … you have to look at psychological effects for which the MOAB is well-equipped,” a source familiar with the planning told the outlet.

Any MOAB strike could result in devastating civilian casualties since the bomb has the power to destroy nine city blocks. The CNN report said that some US officials have warned that dropping the massive bomb was unlikely to force Iran’s capitulation or achieve a strategic military victory.

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TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS:

[Red Badger]

[LLBeet]

This article was written by “Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com”!

[Red Badger]

Nom de plume?................

[SuperLuminal]

"Sources speaking to CNN said..."

Enough said...
The sieve-ridden bucket keeps on producing...

[PGalt]

Would the MoFo barbarians use one against us? (yes) Moab Utah is a beautiful place. Especially the drive in from Colorado.

[janetjanet998]

Video
GBU-43/B Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) Test (2003)

https://rumble.com/v55rwxv-gbu-43b-mother-of-all-bombs-moab-test-2003.html

[MeanWestTexan]

I doubt this story’s veracity.

Pickaxe mountain facilities are deeply buried under 100s of feet of rock.

The MOAB is a ground-effect weapon with limited use against hardened targets.

To have any effect beyond psychological, it would have to follow a penetrator down a hole from a MOP.

[bantam]

For the love of Pete, stop talking, AND START DOING!!!!!!!!!

[whitney69]

Doubt it being used. We fight in a style consistent with laws both domestic and international. It specifically violates the geneava convention.

In addition to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions set forth above, the Rome Statute provides for punishment of:

(iv) Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated

(v) Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives;

Whether they are liked or not, as we are not in a declared war but a hostile action the use of this type of weapon is very indescriminate and will kill everything on the ground from the air burst. MOAB is not a penetrator weapon and is primarily an air burst bomb intended for soft to medium surface targets covering extended areas and targets in a contained environment such as a deep canyon or within a cave system. But it is going to effect anything within the blast radius. The media would cut them a new one on this.

wy69

[alancarp]

This is just stupid:
(1) As has been pointed out, the MOAB isn’t the right tool for the job... even if it were to _follow_ a deep penetrator into a key mountain.
(2) As with ‘negotiations’ that have already taken place, there is little chance that ‘psychological’ pressure would work on a regime consisting of true-believer fanatics.
(3) ‘Desperate’ people don’t usually fare well in wartime, and the US is not in a ‘desperate’ condition by any definition of the term — the coming election doesn’t nearly rise to that condition level. When you’re in a position of strength, you should press that advantage (though we haven’t for several months).

If I were steering this ship, I would be doing these things:
(a) continuously monitoring the movements of all key personnel of that regime and looking for times when there are predictable critical masses that can be taken out with well-timed, precision strikes.
(b) taking out anything that looks like materiel support from Russia or China.
(c) continue to eliminate anything that allows them to defend themselves. (You want psychological warfare? How about overflying Tehran on a daily basis as a show of power that they can’t stop?)
(d) systematically eliminating anything that could harass the shipping lanes: drones, drone factories or parts, and infrastructure (bridges, etc) for delivery of such items.

But of course this would already have been done if I had any say.

[ChessExpert]

I wonder if he is anti all wars.

[No name given]

Pronto.

[No name given]

Most likely.

[kaktuskid]

Taking out anything that aids the Iranian war machine is a valid target.

[old school]

And, just how is this supposed to motivate people who celebrate martyrdom?