Opinion: Rebecca Grant Says Trump's MOAB Threat Is Meant to Put Iran's Deepest Bunkers on Notice
The writer argues the 21,000-pound 'mother of all bombs' is a credible weapon against Iran, given U.S. air dominance and a naval blockade squeezing oil revenue. She says Trump is signaling, not striking.
This is a summary of an opinion column. The views belong to Rebecca Grant, not to RightNewsRightNow.
Grant says to take President Trump's talk of the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast seriously. She argues the weapon, nicknamed the "mother of all bombs," could figure in any new airstrike plan against Iran.
Trump's words. She quotes the president: "The mother of all bombs is not nuclear. This is just an extremely large bomb." He added, "I wouldn't use nuclear. We don't have to." Grant says he is right, because the U.S. has precision weapons that can hit any suspicious target in Iran, including construction activity at Pickaxe Mountain.
The signal. She says Trump has stated he will not strike Iran before the midterms, but is clearly studying CENTCOM's strike briefing charts and wants Iran to know it. In her reading, mentioning the MOAB is about keeping military pressure on the Revolutionary Guard Corps while the U.S. naval blockade cuts their oil income. She calls it an "intimidation weapon" for knocking out military targets and a reminder that the U.S. can strike if needed to stop an Iranian nuclear weapon.
Her four reasons it is formidable. She notes that the MOAB's only combat use was April 13, 2017, against an ISIS cave complex in Afghanistan, where CNN reported 94 fighters killed. She says the weapon is too big for standard bomber racks and would ride out the ramp of an MC-130 on a special cradle. She argues that air dominance makes such a mission possible, saying the opening weeks of Operation Epic Fury destroyed Iran's Russian-built air defenses and later CENTCOM strikes have kept them from rebuilding. She also describes the bomb as satellite-guided and set to burst in the air, to maximize blast effect.
Note for readers: the military assessments, the Pickaxe Mountain reference and the claim about Trump's timing are the author's. Our summary did not verify them independently.