TehranUS planners drafted strikes with a 21,600-pound bomb, officials say.
Planned targets include Iran’s energy infrastructure, and sources flag civilian casualty risk.
The bomb bursts above ground and clears nine city blocks, but sources say it likely cannot penetrate Pickaxe Mountain’s granite.
Trump said Wednesday the war ends very soon and has pledged no new action before the midterms.
US troops in the region rotate within weeks, an official said, and some may go unreplaced.
How each outlet framed it
drawn from 200+ reports worldwide · These outlets told this story differently.
- The Jerusalem Post leans critical
- reports that the MOAB likely could not penetrate deep underground to reach Iranian nuclear sites, per several sources
- CNN International leans critical
- frames the plans as Trump facing an unpopular war with no sign of a negotiated resolution after more than six months of bombing
- Hindustan Times leans critical
- centers the plan's sequencing: strikes framed around a US withdrawal from CENTCOM's area of responsibility
- B92 leans critical
- quotes CNN's line that the plans, unlike maritime-only frameworks, explicitly add Iranian energy infrastructure, and contrasts coercive signaling with the bomb's real limits
- The Straits Times leans critical
- quotes a source calling the MOAB 'a massive information operation type weapon' fit for area clearance and little else, and flags civilian casualty risks
- TRT World
- presents Trump's claims that Iran's navy and air force are destroyed and that he 'should have probably left their leaders' because he doesn't know who to negotiate with
Sources: CNN International, The Jerusalem Post, Hindustan Times, B92, The Straits Times, TRT World