Pentagon Drafts Iran Strike Plans That Could Include the ‘Mother of All Bombs,’ CNN Reports

The U.S. military has drawn up new strike plans against Iran that could include the GBU-43/B, the 21,600-pound weapon known as the “Mother of All Bombs,” according to an exclusive CNN report published late Wednesday that cites multiple U.S. officials. The options target Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, and would be available if President Trump orders a resumption of major combat, either before or after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The report, by CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Haley Britzky and Kevin Liptak, says Trump has ordered additional strike packages that include what one source called “a lot of energy infrastructure” and possible use of the bomb. Another source said plans for Iran’s nuclear sites, including the heavily fortified complex known as Pickaxe Mountain near Natanz, explicitly call for it.

The biggest bomb short of a nuke

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb is the largest non-nuclear weapon in the American arsenal. CNN describes its GPS-guided design as capable of destroying an area equivalent to nine city blocks. It was developed during the Iraq War and tested in 2003, when officials said it was conceived largely for psychological effect.

It has been used in combat exactly once, and it was Trump who used it. In April 2017, he authorized a strike on an ISIS tunnel network in Afghanistan. Afghan officials said 36 fighters were killed; U.S. officials said no civilians were hurt.

The officials who spoke to CNN were candid about the bomb’s limits. Pickaxe Mountain is believed to be shielded by layers of granite, and the MOAB is a blast weapon, not a bunker buster. “It is definitely not designed as a deep penetration warhead,” one source said. Another called it “great for huge area clearance but not much else.”

Its value, they suggested, is the message it sends. The bomb’s main advantage would be psychological, one source said, according to The Jerusalem Post’s account of the CNN report: “you have to look at psychological effects for which the MOAB is well-equipped.”

“Prior to US retrograde”

The most revealing detail is a line of planning language. One source told CNN the strike would come “prior to US retrograde in CENTCOM AOR,” military shorthand for a withdrawal of American forces from Central Command’s area of responsibility. CNN read that as a possible sequence: hit Iran hard, declare victory and bring forces home. A source described some of the options as a “fireworks show” meant to provide an off-ramp.

CNN reported that the next CENTCOM troop rotation is expected within weeks and that some departing personnel may not be replaced. The military also appears to be preparing for possible Iranian retaliation.

Trump has said publicly that he would not take new action against Iran before the midterms. Advisers told CNN privately they are not sure whether that is definitive or could change before Election Day. One source said Trump “is almost compelled to do something.”

The administration did not confirm the plans. A White House official said it does not comment on sensitive military plans that may or may not exist, adding: “President Trump keeps all options on the table to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.” A Pentagon official said the department “plans for a wide range of operational scenarios.”

Tehran is squeezing the world’s oil artery

The report lands as Iran escalates its campaign against commercial shipping. On Wednesday, Reuters reported that two ships had sunk near the Strait of Hormuz within 24 hours after being hit by projectiles in separate incidents. The Singapore-flagged container ship GFS Pride caught fire and sank after being struck while transiting the strait on Tuesday; Singapore’s maritime authority said all 21 crew members were evacuated safely. The dry bulk carrier Cape Dao, hit on Sept. 23 in an attack that killed one crew member, also went down.

Singapore called the attacks “unprovoked, unjustifiable, and a breach of international law.” According to Reuters, Iran says it is stepping up strikes in response to the U.S. blockade of its ports and new sanctions, and two senior Iranian officials told the news agency Tehran is using new tactics in the strait to keep oil prices high and influence the U.S. midterms. About a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade passed through the waterway before the war, and Tehran has restricted transit since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28.

Read that again: a foreign regime, by the account of two of its own senior officials, is trying to shape an American election by attacking merchant ships and driving up the price of gasoline.

What it means

Critics will read the CNN report as politics, a way for a president facing an unpopular war to end it with a bang before voters weigh in. CNN itself frames it that way. But the more important point is the one Tehran cannot miss. After more than six months of American bombing, the regime is still attacking civilian shipping and is still believed to be hiding parts of its nuclear program under a mountain. Washington is telling it, in the plainest language a military can speak, that the cost of continuing can always go up.

The officials are right that the MOAB will not dig Iran’s centrifuges out of granite on its own. It does not have to. Its job is to make the men in Tehran understand that the president who dropped it on ISIS in 2017 is perfectly willing to drop it again.

Nobody draws up plans for the Mother of All Bombs to bluff, and the regime that is sinking ships to sway our elections should take the hint.

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