President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast Thursday that he would not use nuclear weapons or deploy ground troops against Iran. The president’s statements, made on the news channel Newsmax, followed a media report detailing potential U.S. military strike options targeting the country.
During the Oct. 15 interview, Trump directly addressed the possibility of using nuclear force. “I wouldn’t use nuclear. We don’t have to,” he said.
The president was asked about a report from CNN that U.S. strike options could include the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB. The weapon is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. military’s arsenal and is also known as the “Mother of All Bombs.”
“The mother of all bombs is not nuclear. It’s not nuclear at all,” Trump said. “This is just an extremely large bomb.” He did not confirm or deny the report regarding its potential use.
When asked if he would send “troops on the ground” to Iran, Trump responded, “No, I don’t see that, I don’t see it.”
The interview followed a CNN report published earlier on Thursday, which stated that the U.S. military had developed new strike plans. According to the report, the plans target Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites and could be initiated if the president orders a resumption of combat operations. The White House has not issued a public statement on the report.
The MOAB was previously used in a combat operation in 2017 against an ISIS militant complex in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
These developments occur amid heightened activity in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane in the Middle East. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) stated that the threat level in the strait remains “severe.”
The agency’s assessment followed an incident where the Singapore-registered container ship GFS Pride was struck by an unknown projectile, which resulted in a fire before the vessel sank. The UKMTO said “deliberate hostile action” was highly likely and noted it had recorded eight attacks in the waterway since Oct. 11.
