President Trump Considers Dropping “Mother of All Bombs” On Iran

NEW: The U.S. has drawn up strike plans against Iran that reportedly include using a GBU-43/B MOAB against nuclear or energy infrastructure, CNN reports.

The bomb can hit surface targets but cannot penetrate deeply buried nuclear facilities. pic.twitter.com/vO104G05pN

— Conflict Radar (@Conflict_Radar) October 15, 2026

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The US military has developed new strike plans that include potentially using the so-called “mother of all bombs” to target Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites should President Donald Trump give the order to resume combat operations either before or after the midterm elections, according to multiple US officials familiar with the matter.

Using the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb or MOAB, the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal, for the first time in the conflict with Iran would mark a notable escalation, even though there are doubts over how effective it would be in accomplishing any of Trump’s stated strategic objectives or tipping the balance of the war, multiple sources familiar with internal military planning discussions about potentially deploying the weapon said…

Over the course of the last several weeks, White House advisers have held meetings to discuss various options for Iran. While Trump announced publicly that he would not take new actions before the midterms, several advisers said privately they didn’t know whether that statement was definitive or could change before Election Day.

Trump has 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, one of the sources told CNN. The same source said the phrasing used was that this attack would come “prior to US retrograde in CENTCOM AOR (area of responsibility),” indicating the administration could launch the additional strikes, attempt to declare victory and quickly pull everyone out.

A second source told CNN that military plans for striking Iranian nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, also explicitly call for using the MOAB. In recent months, Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Pickaxe, where the US and Israel believe Tehran has stored components of its nuclear program, even after pausing full combat operations earlier this year, and Trump continues to emphasize that his goal is to ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.

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Mr. Trump set a precedent for using the MOAB, also known as the “mother of all bombs,” when it was used in 2017 to attack an Islamic State cave complex in Afghanistan. The bomb is the largest U.S. non-nuclear weapon, weighing upwards of 30,000 pounds at a cost of $170,000 per unit.

Iran and the United States have largely held off on striking each other in recent weeks, after several months of on-and-off U.S. strikes on Iranian targets. But Mr. Trump has suggested the war could ramp back up if he is not able to secure a satisfactory agreement with the Iranian government.

In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last month, the president said he has a “big decision to make” on whether to strike a deal with Iran or “annihilate the Islamic Republic.”

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