Mother of all bombs and Iran: why US officials doubt MOAB can reach buried nuclear sites

By Prakhar Shahi

Published

A GBU-43/B MOAB, the 'mother of all bombs', on display; US strike plans for Iran include it, CNN reported on 15 Oct 2026

New US strike plans include the 9,800 kg GBU-43/B, CNN reported on 15 October. Only 15 were ever built, it has been used in combat once, and even that strike's death toll is disputed.

Original report · Analysis

What is the mother of all bombs, and why is it linked to Iran? It is the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, a US bomb weighing about 9,800 kg (Hindustan Times, 2026; Indian Express, 2026). On 15 October 2026, CNN reported, citing multiple US officials, that new US strike plans include it against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites if President Donald Trump orders combat to resume (Hindustan Times, 2026; Indian Express, 2026).

The catch is in its design. MOAB is an air-blast weapon, not a penetrator, and officials told CNN it may be ineffective against deeply buried, granite-protected facilities (Hindustan Times, 2026; Mint, 2026).

An air-blast bomb against buried targets

MOAB detonates a few feet above the ground to spread its blast (Indian Express, 2026). Bunker busters work the other way, penetrating rock before they explode, Mint explained (Mint, 2026).

That difference matters for Iran's nuclear programme. The plans for nuclear sites explicitly include a possible MOAB strike on a suspected underground site known as Pickaxe Mountain (Hindustan Times, 2026; Mint, 2026). Officials told CNN the bomb may not work against facilities buried deep under granite (Hindustan Times, 2026; Mint, 2026). Trump has repeatedly threatened Pickaxe Mountain (Hindustan Times, 2026).

The officials' account also sets out what has, and has not, been decided.

What the plans say, and what officials said on record

Trump directed the development of extra strike packages, CNN reported (Hindustan Times, 2026; Indian Express, 2026). MOAB has not been used in the current conflict, and using it would be a major escalation (Hindustan Times, 2026; Indian Express, 2026). The US-Iran conflict is now more than seven months old (Indian Express, 2026).

A White House official told CNN the administration does not comment on sensitive military plans that may or may not exist, and that Trump keeps all options open to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon, Mint reported (Mint, 2026). Trump has indicated there will be no further strikes before the US midterm elections, though his advisers are unsure whether that is final, Hindustan Times reported, citing CNN (Hindustan Times, 2026).

The weapon itself is older than the conflict by more than two decades.

Designed in 2002, only 15 built

MOAB dates from the Iraq War era. It was designed in 2002 and first tested on 11 March 2003, according to Wikipedia's entry on the bomb (Wikipedia, 2026). Only 15 were built, at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, at a unit price of about $170,000 in a mid-2000s estimate (Wikipedia, 2026).

Put another way, the explosive alone is about 87% of the bomb's weight (8,500 divided by 9,800). It has been dropped in combat just once.

Its only combat use left a disputed toll

The US dropped MOAB once in combat, on 13 April 2017, on an Islamic State-Khorasan tunnel and cave complex in Nangarhar, Afghanistan (Wikipedia, 2026).

The death toll from that strike is not settled. Hindustan Times reported that Afghan officials said 36 fighters were killed (Hindustan Times, 2026). Wikipedia cites Afghan claims of 94 militants killed, including four commanders (Wikipedia, 2026). The only battlefield record for the weapon is therefore itself disputed.

What we don't know yet

Questions people are asking

What is the mother of all bombs?

The GBU-43/B MOAB, a US air-burst bomb of about 9,800 kg, used in combat once, in Afghanistan in 2017 (Hindustan Times, 2026; Wikipedia, 2026).

Has the mother of all bombs been used on Iran?

No. It has not been used in the current conflict (Hindustan Times, 2026).

Can MOAB destroy Iran's underground nuclear sites?

Officials told CNN it may not, because it is an air-blast weapon rather than a penetrator (Hindustan Times, 2026; Mint, 2026).

How is MOAB different from a bunker buster?

MOAB explodes just above the ground to spread its blast; bunker busters penetrate rock first (Mint, 2026).

References

How we did this

We compared three explainers published on 15 October 2026, from Hindustan Times, The Indian Express and Mint. They covered the strike plans, the specifications and the penetration question, but none gave the number built, the unit cost, or the conflicting death tolls from the 2017 strike. We added those from the bomb's Wikipedia entry, noted where weights differ between sources, and did the explosive-share arithmetic ourselves. We could not open the US Air Force's own fact sheet.

This story was produced, reviewed, edited and verified by the reporter before publication, with AI assistance where required.

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