President Donald Trump’s threat to use the MOAB—the Massive Ordnance Air Blast—against Iran is unlikely to destroy its deeply buried nuclear facilities at Pickaxe Mountain. The 21,600-pound bomb is a thermobaric weapon designed to devastate surface targets by sucking oxygen from the air, not a deep-penetrating bunker buster. Experts, including Emma Salisbury of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, argue that weapons like the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) would be far more effective against underground complexes.
While the MOAB could cripple Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sites, its utility against Iran’s hardened nuclear tunnels is limited. Analysts like Rebecca Grant and Doug Barrie note the bomb’s surface-level destruction profile and the logistical challenges of deploying it via non-stealth cargo planes. The MOAB was last used in 2017 against ISIS-Khorasan caves, killing around 36 militants.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing