War in the Middle East: the United States plans to strike Iran with the GBU-43, “mother of all bombs”, according to CNN
The Pentagon is studying scenarios for strikes on Iranian energy and nuclear infrastructure at the request of the White House.
Quick Look
The US military is studying the use of the GBU-43 bomb, nicknamed "mother of all bombs", for possible strikes against Iranian nuclear and energy sites, according to sources close to the matter cited by CNN.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The GBU-43 is a massive conventional bomb used only once in 2017 in Afghanistan. Mount Kolang is suspected of harboring Iranian nuclear facilities.
She is said to be the “mother of all bombs”. The US military plans to use the most powerful conventional bomb available to the United States if Donald Trump orders a resumption of strikes on Iran, CNN said on Thursday, citing officials familiar with the matter. Such a scenario, with the aim of bombing Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, would constitute a notable escalation, the channel underlines.
The GBU-43 is a massive blast bomb that was used only once in 2017, during Donald Trump's first term, against underground positions of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. Its English acronym (“Massive Ordnance Air Blast”, MOAB) earned it the nickname “Mother of All Bombs”.
President Trump said last week that he ruled out attacking Iran before the November 3 legislative elections in the United States, which promise to be difficult for his Republican camp. He assured that Washington was having “productive discussions” with Tehran.
Several American media outlets, however, reported that the White House had asked the Pentagon to develop scenarios to possibly strike Iranian targets before the mid-term elections. According to one of the sources cited by CNN, Donald Trump has indicated that these plans include “a lot of energy infrastructure” and foresee the possible use of a MOAB bomb.
Another source from the channel indicated that the use of this bomb was “also explicitly planned” in the options targeting Iranian nuclear sites, in particular Mount Kolang, suspected of housing a deeply buried nuclear complex under construction for several years. This mountain, called “Pickaxe Mountain” in English (“Kolang” means “pickaxe” in Persian), is located near the former Natanz complex, bombed by the United States in June 2025.
US officials have expressed doubts about the value of bombing such targets with an MOAB, judged by one of CNN's sources "very effective for razing large areas but not for much else". “It was clearly not designed as a deep penetration warhead,” underlined the same source.
Open Questions
- Will President Trump actually validate these plans?
- What will be the Iranian response to such an escalation?
