Trump lines up ‘mother of all bombs’ to strike Iran
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Emily Smith Foreign Breaking News Reporter Show biography !Emily Smith
Emily covers breaking news from all over the world. She previously reported on home news and politics for The Telegraph. You can reach her at
Published 15 October 2026 11:08am BST
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!Donald Trump on board Marine One on Tuesday. The US president wants to use America's largest non-nuclear bomb on Iran
Donald Trump on board Marine One on Tuesday. The US president wants to use America’s largest non-nuclear bomb on Iran Credit: Kent NISHIMURA/AFP
Emily Smith Foreign Breaking News Reporter Show biography !Emily Smith
Emily covers breaking news from all over the world. She previously reported on home news and politics for The Telegraph. You can reach her at
Published 15 October 2026 11:08am BST
Donald Trump is lining up the “mother of all bombs” for fresh strikes on Iran.
The US military has drawn up plans to use the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (Moab) on Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites should fighting continue.
The deployment of the Moab, the largest non-nuclear weapon in the US arsenal, would be a significant escalation in the conflict and the first time it had been deployed in Iran.
US officials told CNN that Mr Trump had ordered the US military to develop additional strike packages targeting “a lot of energy infrastructure” including Pickaxe Mountain, Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (Moab) .
The strike plans included using the Moab and could be rushed into action before the midterm elections on Nov 3, the officials said.
The Moab, whose acronym also lends it the nickname “Mother of all Bombs”, is a large-yield bomb weighing 21,000lb and measuring 30ft in length.
Delivering 18,700lb of explosives, the GPS-guided weapon has an air blast mechanism that detonates mid-air, creating a explosion with a one-mile radius.
It is too large and heavy to be dropped from a standard underwing bomb bay, so has to be rolled out of the back of a modified cargo transport plane – the Lockheed MC-130.
The US administration has used heavy bunker-buster munitions during the war in Iran, such as the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator and the GBU-72 Advanced Penetrator on fortified sites, but B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped them.
!An MC-130 in the air, wtih its four propellers turning
The Moab is dropped from a modified Lockheed MC-130 cargo plane Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images/Jon Hobley
Some US officials have questioned whether the Moab would work on Iranian nuclear facilities that are located deep underground.
Unlike bunker-buster bombs, the weapon is thought to lack the capability to penetrate deep underground.
“The Moab is a massive information operation type weapon that is great for huge area clearance but not much else,” a source familiar with military planning discussions around Iran told CNN. “It is definitely not designed as a deep penetration warhead.”
If deployed, the Moab would have a devastating impact, but only at surface level, sources said.
The weapon’s large blast radius, capable of destroying an area equivalent to nine city blocks, would also raise concerns about civilian casualties.
A White House official said: “President Trump keeps all options on the table to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”
!Mr Trump wearing a MAGA hat at a lectern bearing the Great Seal of the United States
Mr Trump has made it clear he would like to bomb Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility Credit: AFP via Getty Images/Kent Nishimura
Mr Trump first deployed the Moab during his first presidency, against Islamic State targets in Afghanistan.
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
The article gives the White House the line that the strike plans exist to ensure Iran 'can never have a nuclear weapon', and it describes nuclear sites as targets. It never reports that the IAEA said it had no credible indication of a coordinated weapons programme. Without that finding, a reader takes the US premise that Iran is pursuing a bomb as the settled basis for the strikes.
How we know
- The Independent reported“the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it had no credible indication of a coordinated weapons programme”Trump threatens to drop ‘the mother of all bombs’ on Iran in major escalation (opens in a new tab)
It was used during an April 2017 strike on an Islamic State tunnel complex in Nangarhar province. The blast reportedly killed about 95 people.
The president is facing mounting pressure to bring an end to the war in Iran, which is deeply unpopular with voters as he gears up for next month’s midterm elections.
Mr Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to strike Pickaxe Mountain, the granite fortress in central Iran that Western officials believe may hold the most closely guarded pieces of the country’s nuclear programme.
“Pickaxe is a possible target for a nice, big, fat shot right in the front door,” Mr Trump said earlier this year.
He added: “We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready. Let them know we’re coming, OK? There’s not a damn thing they can do about it.”
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