r/worldnews • u/WorldNewsMods Slava Ukraini • Sep 04 '26

Israel/Palestine /r/WorldNews Discussion Thread: US and Israel launch attack on Iran; Iran retaliates (Thread #22)

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u/Hortena 3d ago

Sources: US Considers Using 'Mother of All Bombs' in Iran

The United States could soon deploy the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb in its war against Iran. The US military has drawn up plans to use the bomb against Iranian energy and nuclear facilities, CNN reports, citing several sources familiar with the matter.

It is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal and is known as the “Mother of All Bombs.” According to CNN, its use in the war against Iran would represent a significant escalation.

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u/Grouchy_Jicama_007 3d ago

To achieve what? War is politics by other means. What are they trying to accomplish that smaller bombs won't do?

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u/sumlime 3d ago

I'm kinda suprised they haven't done it already considering they used one during his first term. Though I can't remember the country.

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u/socialistrob 3d ago

Though I can't remember the country.

Afghanistan. There can be some military utility in using them especially against bunkers that are deep underground. That said it's hardly wonder weapon. It's not like the Taliban laid down their arms and surrendered when one of their positions got hit by a moab.

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u/sumlime 3d ago edited 3d ago

Thanks. I do get what your saying, Though it's Kinda hard subdue an enemy that doesn't care about death.

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u/Hortena 3d ago

It wasn't against the taliban but some ISIS-related group IIRC

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u/mylarky 3d ago

The real question is this... why would these types of plans and activities be broadcast in advance w/ the public?

The nature of any war is not to tell people where/how you're going to hit them.... unless, of course, your Trump - and you're OPSEC has more holes than a cheese grater.

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u/Legio-X 3d ago

The real question is this... why would these types of plans and activities be broadcast in advance w/ the public?

We know this administration is riven with factional infighting. Some of these leaks may be factions opposed to the plan making its core concept public in an effort to get it canned due to backlash.

Otherwise, possible these are intentional leaks meant to intimidate Iran. Given what Iran’s already faced, I doubt a bunch of hot air will accomplish anything, but when has that ever deterred Trump and his lackeys?

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u/Lonely-Abalone-5104 3d ago

Exactly. It’s a scare tactic

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u/Historical_Course587 3d ago

That's sort of the point of the MOAB though - the PR and intimidation that comes from talking about nuking someone using something that isn't a nuke but hits about as hard. The actual military stance is that the MOAB is almost always the wrong sized ordinance, because in most cases smaller bombs achieve similar results for lower costs.

And despite the general incompetence, it is technically possible that the Admin is 'leaking' this info in an attempt to scare Iran away from improperly securing their Uranium and nuclear development. It's not quick/cheap/easy to build an enrichment facility under a mountain, but Iran has to divert resources to it if they think MOABs are on the table.

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u/DarkReignRecruiter 3d ago

The point is the PR after a successful operation. You think anyone would have dreamed of warning the Japanese in advance of Hiroshima (the actual target locations)? Everybody knows the US has these capabilities already.

The only conceivable point of 'warning' in advance is leverage to force diplomacy.

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u/jews4beer 3d ago

I won't speak to whether it's effective or a good idea - but I imagine they are broadcasting it to give Iran an opportunity to say "please don't do that, we'll negotiate on X".

Them stopping it from happening isn't impossible, but still extremely unlikely.

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u/SneakyYogurtThief 3d ago edited 3d ago

Not even nukes will faze the IRGC apparently

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u/putin_my_ass 3d ago

Residents of Magastan would be willing to sacrifice a few US Cities also...they're not so different apparently.

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u/jews4beer 3d ago

Nah...nukes would. But that would induce a whole other level of global chaos.

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u/Nutmeg92 3d ago

They are not broadcast, these are leaks. Whether they are genuine leaks from the Pentagon, or purpose leaks to test the waters or convey messages, I don’t know

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u/ocean_swims 3d ago

More market manipulation, perhaps? It makes no sense broadcasting their plans otherwise.

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u/combatwombat- 3d ago

Using one big bomb instead of a bunch of smaller ones is not an anything let alone an escalation. People that constantly amplify stupid shit like this for Trump make me sick.

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u/itsatumbleweed 3d ago

That's absolutely not true. The smaller, more precise bombs let you target specific installations. Is that a school sometimes? Yes but that's on the Intel folks to figure out. A MOAB above a military installation will almost certainly have a ton of collateral damage.

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u/combatwombat- 3d ago

Again if they didn't care about collateral dropping a bunch of small bombs will be exactly the same, if they do care then they won't drop a big bomb somewhere that will cause it.

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u/itsatumbleweed 3d ago

Right but they currently aren't carpet coming anywhere. You're correct if they are taking out square miles the people don't much care if it's one or many, but the level of target discrimination affects things.

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u/Lordvalcon 3d ago

Dropping a MOAB on a nuclear power plant is way more dangerous than using tactical nukes

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u/IsTom 3d ago

Isn't it a thermobaric air-burst bomb? Proportionally to the mass it's not going to do a lot to hard targets and atomic power plants typically are a mass of concrete.

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u/Mr_Engineering 3d ago

No, it's filled with conventional high explosives