As the United States weighs new military options against Iran, defense planners have examined deploying the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, commonly known as the Mother of All Bombs, to target energy infrastructure and nuclear sites before any eventual withdrawal of forces, detikNews reported. The bombs would be used if US Donald Trump orders the resumption of combat operations against Iran.
Trump stated in Montana that Iran used to be a bully in the Middle East
and described Iran as a military power that was once dominant in the region in the past, noting, They don’t have a navy.
They don’t have an air force.
Their army is crushed to pieces.
Their leaders are gone.
I should have kept their leaders alive, because I don’t know who we are actually negotiating with.
Trump’s statements about Iranian leadership followed remarks from US JD Vance expressing uncertainty regarding the current Iranian leadership’s decisions concerning negotiations, with Vance emphasizing that any agreement to end the war would require Iran to significantly reduce its nuclear enrichment.
Administration sources told CNN—as detailed by Republika—that the MOAB deployment plan is explicitly tied to sites such as “Pickaxe Mountain,” a location believed to house nuclear program components. However, military planners have questioned the tactical utility of the non-nuclear weapon against deeply buried, granite-reinforced subterranean facilities. Designed during the Iraq War primarily for surface blasts and psychological operations, the GPS-guided bomb lacks earth-penetrating capabilities, functioning instead to clear massive surface areas rather than crush underground bunkers. One source told CNN that MOAB is a great massive operation weapon for clearing a large area, no more,
noting it is not designed as a penetration warhead, while another source stated that the president has been put in a position where he is almost forced to act and must look to the psychological effect of a weapon capable of such impacts.
The strategic debate unfolding inside Washington intersects with shifting political pressures at home. CNN Indonesia reported that Trump claimed Iran has lost 159 naval vessels and 274 fighter jets, effectively neutralizing the country’s conventional military projection capabilities. Trump elaborated on the naval and air losses during his remarks in Montana, stating that Iran had exactly 159 warships and asking, How many ships are now lying at the bottom of the sea? Yeah, 159,
and describing their condition by saying, They are resting beautifully in the ocean.
Regarding the air force, Trump noted they had 274 fairly good fighter jets, asking how many are currently available for use and answering, Zero! You know where those jets are? They are scattered all over the beautiful runways in Iran. They are all smashed to pieces all over those runways.
Weighing the Effectiveness of Heavy Ordnance
Military analysts within the Pentagon remain divided over whether the deployment of the largest non-nuclear munition in the US arsenal would advance Washington’s strategic objectives. Sources familiar with internal discussions pointed out that while the MOAB creates a devastating blast radius capable of leveling multiple city blocks, its air-burst mechanism was never engineered to fracture reinforced rock strata.
🇺🇲 CNN: White House advisers and U.S. military planners have drafted strike options against Iran that include deploying the GBU-43/B (MOAB), popularly known as the "Mother of All Bombs", targeting nuclear facilities such as Pickaxe Mountain and critical energy infrastructure.…
| Metric / Asset | Reported Status | Context / Source |
|---|---|---|
| GBU-43/B (MOAB) | Considered for targeting infrastructure and Pickaxe Mountain | Pentagon planning via detikNews and Republika |
| Iranian Naval Fleet | 159 vessels destroyed | Claimed by President Trump (ANTARA News) |
| Iranian Air Force | 274 jets destroyed on runways | Claimed by President Trump (ANTARA News) |
| Midterm Elections | November 3, 2026 | US political timeline (Republika) |
Regional Spillovers and the CENTCOM Timeline
The planning documents reviewed by defense officials explicitly frame the proposed strikes as an action that would precede the withdrawal of US forces from the US Central Command area of responsibility. This potential endgame runs parallel to escalating security incidents across the wider region. In Saudi Arabia, authorities responded to a 10 October attack at Riyadh’s airport that left 13 people dead, underscoring the active proxy networks still operating despite the degradation of Iran’s regular armed forces.
Meanwhile, Israeli leadership has navigated its own domestic security calculus. In an interview with Israel’s Army Radio, Benjamin Netanyahu rejected accusations from political opponents that he was seeking a military confrontation ahead of the general election, maintaining that Israel remains prepared to respond harshly to any renewed missile fire from regional adversaries while managing buffer zones along its northern border with Lebanon, and warning that one million Shia Muslims must leave their homes as Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut are targeted. Netanyahu had previously discussed these developments during a meeting in Jerusalem on October 1, 2024.
As White House advisers hold closed-door meetings to finalize their next steps, uncertainty persists over whether Trump will authorize fresh strikes prior to the November 3 polling date. While the president maintains that military pressure has successfully dismantled Iran’s offensive posture, the absence of a structured diplomatic framework leaves open the question of how Washington intends to transition from sustained aerial bombardments to a lasting political settlement.
