U.S. Weighs Using ‘Mother of All Bombs’ Against Iran’s Energy and Nuclear Sites, CNN Reports

The U.S. military has developed new strike plans that include potentially using the so-called “mother of all bombs” against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites if President Donald Trump orders a resumption of combat operations, CNN reported Thursday, citing multiple U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, or MOAB, is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. It has not been used since 2017, when an MC-130 dropped one on an Islamic State cave and tunnel complex in the Achin district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, killing 96 ISIS fighters. Deploying it in the conflict with Iran would mark a major escalation.

One source told CNN that Trump ordered the military to prepare additional strike packages covering “a lot of energy infrastructure,” with the MOAB as a possible weapon. The same source said the operation was described as taking place “prior to US retrograde in CENTCOM AOR,” the military’s term for the Central Command region. According to that source, the scenario would involve a final round of strikes, a declaration of victory and a rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region.

Doubts about Pickaxe Mountain

A second source told CNN that military plans for striking Iranian nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, explicitly call for using the MOAB. Pickaxe Mountain is a fortified underground facility near Natanz where U.S. and Israeli officials believe Tehran has stored components of its nuclear program, though there has never been any indication of nuclear activity at the site.

But sources questioned whether the bomb could penetrate 300 to 400 feet of solid granite. “It is definitely not designed as a deep penetration warhead,” one source familiar with the military plans told CNN, describing the MOAB as better suited to clearing large areas than to destroying hardened underground targets.

A war facing political headwinds

The White House would not rule out the move. “President Trump keeps all options on the table to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” a White House official told CNN, declining to comment on the plans. The Pentagon said it “plans for a wide range of operational scenarios” to carry out presidential directives.

The report lands as the seven-and-a-half-month war faces deep public skepticism. Polling compiled by Silver Bulletin puts support for the military operation at 34 percent, with net support at minus 22.7 percent. Trump has said publicly he will not take new military action before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, though advisers told CNN privately they were unsure that commitment would hold.

At a rally in Montana on Wednesday, Trump said Iran’s military had been decimated: “They don’t have a navy. They don’t have an air force. Their leaders are gone.” Meanwhile, average U.S. gasoline prices have topped $4 a gallon for 158 days in 2026, the longest stretch on record, according to GasBuddy. Fuel prices hit a record $6.53 a gallon last month, and Trump announced Friday that the U.S. would buy large amounts of Russian diesel to push costs down.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN and the New York Post.