The U.S. military has drawn up plans that could involve using its largest non-nuclear bomb against Iranian energy facilities and nuclear sites.
The strikes would go ahead only if President Donald Trump ordered combat to resume, either before or after the November midterm elections, CNN reported, citing several US officials familiar with the planning.
The weapon is the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, known as the MOAB. Using the weapon against Iran for the first time would mark a significant escalation, though officials questioned whether it would advance Trump’s strategic goals or change the course of the war.
Will the strikes be part of an exit plan?
Trump had asked the Pentagon for additional strike options, including a heavy focus on energy infrastructure and a possible MOAB attack.
Those strikes would reportedly precede a US military withdrawal from the Middle East, raising the possibility that the White House could strike hard, claim victory and withdraw quickly.
A second source said plans for hitting Iran’s nuclear sites, including the fortified Pickaxe Mountain, also call for the MOAB. Washington and Israel believe Tehran stores nuclear program components there, and Trump has repeatedly threatened to target it.
On Oct. 6, U.S. forces destroyed an Iranian-affiliated dhow conducting surveillance and targeting U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Oman. Over the past seven months, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has continued to indiscriminately target thousands of civilian mariners transiting regional waters in addition to U.S. Navy warships. Crew members were safely removed prior to destruction of the dhow. Repatriation efforts are ongoing.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 14, 2026
Will the massive strikes be effective?
According to an unnamed official cited in the report the strike are some of the options under discussion as a “fireworks show”, potentially giving Trump a way out of the conflict even if the strikes fall short of his original war aims.
President Trump has also suggested the Iran will end quickly.
Military planners typically prepare options ranging from limited strikes to maximum force, with the MOAB representing the upper end of that spectrum, an official explained.
🚨 WE ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS THE BIGGEST WAR IN HISTORY FOR THE SURVIVAL OF PETRODOLLAR
Massive U.S. bomber formations, continuous surveillance flights, and heavy air movements are now saturating the skies near Iran. This is no longer posturing.
This is the opening chapter of the biggest geopolitical-financial war of our lifetime, the one that will decide whether the petrodollar survives… or dies.
If the U.S. fails to completely dismantle the IRGC’s control inside Iran, the consequences are not gradual. They are terminal‼️
Iran has already laid down the new law of energy: Every single barrel of oil that passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the artery carrying ~20% of the world’s crude, must be settled in Chinese yuan. No dollars. Full stop.
The moment that demand sticks, the 50-year monopoly that forced the world to recycle oil revenues into U.S. Treasuries collapses overnight. The petrodollar doesn’t weaken. It dies. And the yuan (backed by real oil flow) becomes the new settlement currency of the energy world.
Jeff Currie, former Goldman Sachs head of commodities and lifelong insider of the dollar system, just laid out the one line America cannot cross. Handing control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran is not a tactical retreat. It is the formal end of the United States as global hegemon and the death of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that Iran had its “throat on the Strait of Hormuz” for 45+ years and told the Trump administration to “finish this thing and finish it right.”
Bank of America reports that U.S. now only has 43-day emergency buffer of crude oil left in 45-year low.
Japan’s @yutokanzakireal had warned about the off-the-record deals signed for Japan’s energy security.
If Japan’s oil purchases start to be priced in Yen, it’s going to be catastrophic for the global economy.
The faith of the fiat system is now being decided in the skies over the Middle East.
— Stern Drew (@SternDrewCrypto) October 15, 2026
However, sources cited in the report, said it was never built to penetrate deep underground. It can flatten an area roughly the size of nine city blocks, yet it would likely damage only the surface of Pickaxe Mountain, which is believed to be protected by layers of granite.
One source described it as a weapon better suited to clearing large areas and producing a psychological impact than to destroying deeply buried facilities. Its huge blast radius would also raise fears of civilian casualties if used near populated areas.
A September assessment by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), based on six years of satellite imagery, found a surge in construction activity at Pickaxe Mountain in 2026, including the reinforcement of tunnel entrances and the development of internal roads. However, the researchers could not establish whether Iran had moved centrifuges into the facility. They also found that the available evidence suggested the site might not yet be ready for uranium enrichment work. The assessment warned that even the heaviest US non-nuclear munitions might struggle to destroy the deeply buried facility, potentially leaving it degraded or temporarily disabled rather than eliminated. (CSIS)
Even so, officials said Trump might see value in the bomb as a psychological tool, a step short of full-scale war that could shake up a stalemate with a government that has so far refused his demands.
The distinction is central to the dilemma facing Washington: a strike could be militarily limited yet politically consequential.
Political pressure
Now in its seventh month of U.S. bombing, the war is deeply unpopular at home, with Republicans fearing a voter backlash in the midterms. There is little sign of a negotiated settlement. Some officials privately question whether the White House has a coherent strategy for ending the fighting.
Trump has said publicly that he will take no new military action before the elections, but several advisers told CNN they are unsure whether that pledge is final. Trump has also resisted calls from some allies to simply withdraw, arguing it would look like defeat. Analysts and officials broadly agree that a decisive military defeat of Iran would require a ground invasion likely to cost thousands of American lives. The Pentagon has plans for that scenario, but no one in the administration is pushing for it, and Trump has shown little appetite for it.
An Associated Press report published on October 10 offered a counterpoint to the idea that the election calendar is driving the conflict, noting that both Trump and Iranian leaders insist electoral considerations are not determining their decisions.
At the same time, the report highlighted growing domestic opposition to the war, economic pressure from elevated energy prices and signs that some Republican candidates are distancing themselves from the administration’s approach to Iran. The competing pressures underscore the distinction between the political incentives to end the war and evidence that those incentives are actually shaping military decisions.
Officials have spent weeks searching for a “symbolic” win that Trump could present to the public without foreclosing a diplomatic breakthrough, including a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military is also preparing for possible Iranian retaliation, and a rotation of troops in the region is expected within weeks. One official acknowledged that some departing personnel may not be replaced.
Iran reportedly threatens regional consequences
Iran has reportedly threatened to expand its region-wide retaliation to any American attack.
🔵 نقلت نشرة «جريان» الأمنية الإيرانية أن إيران أدرجت جسوراً في 7 دول ضمن أهدافها المحتملة في «الساعة صفر».
تشمل القائمة: الكرمل وأيالون (إسرائيل)، الملك فهد ووادي لبن (السعودية)، الشيخ زايد وإنفينيتي (الإمارات)، لوسيل (قطر)، الشيخ جابر (الكويت)، الشيخ حمد (البحرين)، معابر صحار (عمان)، وعبدون (الأردن).
أي هجوم على البنية التحتية الإيرانية قد يُقابل بإجراءات انتقامية ضد ممرات حيوية، ما يزيد اضطرابات النقل والتجارة الإقليمية.
🔶 لم استطع التاكد من صحة المعلومات إلا انها نُشرت مع خريطة باللغة الإنجليزية، ما يعزز فرضية أنها رسالة للجانب الأمريكي.
— محمد صالح صدقیان (@msedghian) October 15, 2026
According to unconfirmed report Iran plans to target infrastructure in several surrounding Gulf countries.
In the past, Tehran targeted energy and other infrastructure when faced with massive U.S. bombing campaigns since the conflict erupted on February 28.
Tehran believes it has seized the initiative by inflicting pain on Saudi Arabia through its proxies in Yemen, the Houthis that have continuously targeted Iran’s airports and large oil facilities.
Muhammad Luqman is Associate Editor at Views News Now. He writes on wide-ranging issues including economy, South Asia, the Middle East, agriculture, economy and innovation. Luqman has worked some of the leading news organizations and won acclaim for his original and research-based works.
