Arabic version: ترامب يستبعد استخدام سلاح نووي ضد إيران

According to Al Jazeera, United States President Donald Trump has explicitly ruled out using a nuclear weapon against Iran for the first time. In a Thursday interview with Newsmax, he said: “I wouldn’t use nuclear. We don’t have to. We’re the greatest nuclear power in the world.” Trump also said the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, known as the MOAB or “mother of all bombs”, is not nuclear.

Trump did not say whether he had authorised use of the MOAB in Iran. He said the United States might launch another strike on Iranian nuclear sites, particularly Pickaxe Mountain, where Tehran is believed to be hiding a nuclear facility under layers of granite. He argued that the war could not end until the US ensured Iran could not produce a nuclear weapon, while saying it would end “very soon” through force or diplomacy. He also said he did not see US troops being put on the ground.

The MOAB carries about 8,500kg of high explosives and weighs 9,800kg. More than nine metres long, it must be deployed by Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft because stealth bombers are too small to carry it. It is designed to explode a few metres above ground, producing fireballs that experts said can blast buildings and hard-surface structures within a 1km radius. The US Air Force has said a mushroom cloud from a test blast was seen 32km away.

Military and weapons analyst Elijah Magnier said the weapon’s explosive charge can produce devastating blast effects against exposed personnel, equipment and vulnerable structures. However, he questioned whether a large surface explosive would be effective against deeply buried Iranian nuclear installations, adding that Iran’s terrain could make access difficult for larger cargo aircraft. Trump had previously not explicitly mentioned using a nuclear weapon, nor ruled it out.