US prepares plans for possible MOAB strike on Iran

The White House and Pentagon have prepared plans to use the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal against Iran if President Donald Trump orders a strike, CBS News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The plans do not mean an attack has been ordered. Trump said last week that the United States would not attack Iran before the midterm elections and described talks with Tehran as “productive conversations,” without giving details.

CBS News said the proposed targets include military sites. CNN reported that US officials described plans to strike energy infrastructure and nuclear sites if Trump orders renewed combat operations, according to Al Jazeera. CNN first reported the planning on Thursday, CBS News said.

A Pentagon official told CBS News that the department “plans for a wide range of operational scenarios to execute Presidential and Secretary level direction and to ensure mission success in any operational environment.”

The weapon under consideration is the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, or MOAB, nicknamed the “mother of all bombs.” The United States has used it in combat once: in 2017, against an Islamic State cave and tunnel complex in Afghanistan. Al Jazeera reported that Afghan authorities said 94 Islamic State-Khorasan Province fighters were killed and no civilians were hurt, though local reports of civilian casualties were unconfirmed and many homes were destroyed.

The reports give different figures for the bomb’s weight. CBS News described it as weighing upward of 30,000 pounds and costing $170,000 per unit. Al Jazeera put its weight at 21,605 pounds, including about 18,000 pounds of explosives, and said it is just over 30 feet long. According to Al Jazeera, the bomb is typically dropped from a C-130 cargo aircraft because it cannot fit in a stealth bomber.

The MOAB detonates above the ground, producing a powerful blast across a wide area. Military expert Colonel Nidal Abu Zeid told Al Jazeera that it could destroy above-ground targets within a 1-kilometre, or 0.6-mile, radius. He said the United States might seek to use it against Iranian ground forces and underground facilities, including Pickaxe Mountain.

Its effectiveness against deeply buried nuclear installations is disputed. Brussels-based military expert Elijah Magnier told Al Jazeera that the blast could devastate exposed people, equipment and vulnerable structures, but that the Afghanistan strike did not establish the bomb’s ability to destroy every type of underground facility. Sites such as Fordow and the under-construction Pickaxe Mountain facility are heavily fortified and deeply buried, Al Jazeera reported. Magnier said using the MOAB would not guarantee their destruction and could amount to “political theatre.”

Al Jazeera reported that officials familiar with planning discussions also questioned whether the weapon would help achieve US goals, including destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Magnier said deployment could be difficult in areas where the sites are located because stealth bombers cannot carry the bomb.

Iran has warned of consequences if American strikes resume. In a televised statement Sunday, National Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei threatened attacks on regional digital infrastructure, including communications cables, data centres and artificial intelligence facilities in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere, according to Al Jazeera.