Summary

Pentagon Eyes 'Mother Of All Bombs' For Future Iran Strikes Anonymous Trump admin officials are apparently once again 'leaking' Iran war military plans to the media. The newest claim is that among potential Pentagon 'options' for a new bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic include deploying the "mother of all bombs". Prior mainstream media reports suggested President Trump is mulling the resumption of a bombing campaign possibly even before the November midterm elections. But the president's public statements have indicated otherwise. There now seems a keen and much-belated awareness at the general unpopularity of this war among the US public on the part of the administration. After all, top White House officials including Trump himself had repeatedly promised at the outset of Operation Epic Fury that it would be a swift and decisive campaign. Officials like Rubio went from saying it could take 'days' to then offering 'four to six weeks' or else saying a couple months. But now we are seven months in, and the end-goal or point that might mark a 'mission accomplished' exit moment has never really been defined. It all along has seemed like a bombing campaign in search of a strategy. In the meantime, outlets like CNN are running with headlines of Washington's next 'threat' against a defiant and intransigent Iranian leadership, which is busy attacking shipping in the Strait of Hormuz at levels never seen before: The US military has developed new strike plans that include potentially using the so-called “mother of all bombs” to target Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites should President Donald Trump give the order to resume combat operations either before or after the midterm elections, according to multiple US officials familiar with the matter. Using the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb or MOAB, the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal, for the first time in the conflict with Iran would mark a notable escalation, even though there are doubts over how effective it would be in accomplishing any of Trump’s stated strategic objectives or tipping the balance of the war, multiple sources familiar with internal military planning discussions about potentially deploying the weapon said. CNN does also note that "Trump is facing pressure to bring an end to the deeply unpopular war — as Republicans brace for potential political backlash from voters in the upcoming midterm elections and there is little indication the two countries are close to a negotiated resolution after more than six months of US bombing." One wonders what the aim or purpose of such headlines touting the use of the "mother of all bombs" is. The Iranians have not changed their position. Their Ayatollah and many top officials have already been assassinated, and Tehran is signaling readiness for a prolonged war. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf in a televised speech on Wednesday invoked the Iran-Iraq War, which lasted from 1980 to 1988, when speaking about what his country is ready to endure with the United States. This suggests Iran is ready to resist for years if necessary, despite the cratering wartime economy amid sweeping Washington sanctions and unprecedented isolation from energy markets.