Thought for “psychological operations”: what is GBU-43, the “mother of all bombs” that Trump threatens to use in Iran?

Donald Trump has ruled out attacking Iran before the midterm elections. But if he were to order the resumption of strikes before November 3, his instructions are clear: the Pentagon will have to target “a lot of energy infrastructure”, and to do so consider using the GBU-43/B bomb, according to American officials cited by CNN. The announcement of the possible use of this weapon, one of the most powerful in the US Army's arsenal, aroused a mixture of surprise and concern this Thursday in the United States.

The “mother of all bombs”

The GBU-43 is a massive blast bomb. In English: “Massive Ordnance Air Blast”, or the acronym MOAB, which gave birth to the nickname “Mother of All Bombs”, that is to say the “mother of all bombs”. In fact, the GBU-43/B is the most powerful conventional bomb in the American arsenal, with an explosive yield equivalent to 11 tons of TNT, according to The Atlantic. However, this remains incommensurable with the energy released by a bomb...