Arabic version: خطط استخدام «أم القنابل» تثير تساؤلات بشأن تأثير ضربة على إيران

According to Al Jazeera, the United States has developed plans to use its largest non-nuclear bomb against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites if President Donald Trump orders renewed combat operations. US officials cited by CNN said the proposed weapon is the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, widely known as the MOAB or the “mother of all bombs”.

The bomb contains about 8,500kg of explosives, weighs 9,800kg and measures just over nine metres long. It is normally deployed from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft because it cannot fit in a stealth bomber. First manufactured between 2002 and 2003, the MOAB has undergone 12 detonation tests and has been used by the US once, against an ISKP cave-and-tunnel complex in Afghanistan in 2017.

Military experts told Al Jazeera that the weapon could create severe above-ground destruction but may not deliver the result sought against deeply buried facilities. Colonel Nidal Abu Zeid said its blast could destroy above-ground targets within a 1km radius and that the US might seek to use it against ground-force positions and underground facilities. Brussels-based military expert Elijah Magnier said its effects would depend on terrain and population density, and argued it is not designed to penetrate deep concrete or mountain rock.

Some Iranian sites, including the Fordow complex and a site under construction at Pickaxe Mountain, are heavily fortified and deeply buried. The GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, described as the US military’s most powerful bunker buster, is built to penetrate up to 61 metres underground before exploding. Magnier said a MOAB strike would not guarantee the destruction of Iran’s underground nuclear installations and could amount to “political theatre” rather than an effective military strategy.

Experts also warned that use of the bomb could trigger a major Iranian response. Iran has been stockpiling weapons, fortifying nuclear and defence locations, and rallying supporters, Al Jazeera reported. National Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei said in a Sunday television broadcast that Iran would attack regional digital infrastructure, including communication cables, data centres and artificial intelligence facilities in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere, if American strikes resume.