Trump rules out nuclear strike on Iran but says the US does not have to use one to force surrender
Donald Trump, who told supporters at a midterm rally that government leakers "should be shot," claims a pre-strike intelligence leak forced him to delay Operation Midnight Hammer by two days.A GBU-43/B MOAB — the military's most powerful non-nuclear weapon — which Pentagon planners have proposed deploying against Iran's suspected underground nuclear facility at Pickaxe Mountain.A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb — the so-called "mother of all bombs" — which CNN reports the US military has drawn up plans to drop on Iran's nuclear sites.IRGC and Basij paramilitary forces parade through central Tehran. Pentagon planners warn the MOAB's vast blast radius raises serious civilian casualty concerns if deployed near populated Iranian energy sites.
President Donald Trump has confirmed he will not deploy nuclear weapons against Iran, even as the Department of War is said to be drawing up strike plans that could include the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb — known as the 'Mother of All Bombs' — against Iranian nuclear sites and energy infrastructure. Trump told Newsmax the MOAB is "like a tiny nuclear bomb, but it's not nuclear," adding bluntly: "I wouldn't use nuclear. We don't have to." Tehran has warned that US bombs will not force Iran into surrender.
The MOAB, or GBU-43/B, is described by Trump as "one big bomb" — a non-nuclear but devastating conventional weapon capable of targeting hardened underground sites.
Multiple US officials are said to have suggested strikes could be carried out either before or after the November 3 midterm elections, signalling the plans are at an advanced stage of consideration.
Iran's warning that it will not surrender under bombardment sets up a direct collision between Trump's 'we don't have to use nuclear' confidence and Tehran's stated defiance.
