Non-Nuclear War: The US vs IRAN

...the US MOAB, Iran's FOAB and the Russia's 'Daddy'

Yesterday, the US President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out Iran for the second time in a year. In his tweet, he warned: "If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!"

I have written extensively about some countries military arsenals including the US, Russia, Britain, Israel and North Korea's nuclear capabilities. However since the world has not allowed Iran to develop her own nukes, the US/Iranian war will most likely be a non-nuclear combat.

The US GBU - 43/B Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB) which was nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) was developed in 2003, and first used in April 2017 when Trump dropped it on ISIS at the Afghanistan - Pakistan border.

The MOAB weighs 22,000 pounds (over 10,000 kg) and is the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the US arsenal. It is packed with H6 explosive which is 1.35 times more powerful than the pure TNT (Tri-nitro-toluene) for an 11-ton yield over a 1.6 km radius.

Later in 2017, a top commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed that Iran had developed the "Father of All Bombs" which is more powerful than the US mother. He claimed that Iran's 10-ton bomb is highly destructive, without providing any further details on the capabilities of the ordinance.

The threat tweet

Since the American device weighs 9.8 tons and yields 11 tons in TNT equivalent, the IRGC commander presumably referred to the weight of the Iranian ordinance rather than its destructive potentials.

However in 2007, Russia developed its own massive non-nuclear weapon, the Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power known as the 'Father of All Bombs' (FOAB). This ordinance can inflict a 44 ton-yield when detonated compared to the 11 ton-yield of the US MOAB.

Russia's FOAB explodes midair, vapourizing its targets, collapsing structures, and leaving a moon-like scorched landscape. Gases are burnt within the vicinity of the blast producing a vacuum, which can drag objects towards the centre of the explosion.

READ MORE: Why Trump Will Never Go To War With Iran

The US had boasted that MOAB is the largest ever non-nuclear weapon, but the US mother is like a kid to Russia's 'Daddy' - the FOAB.

It will be recalled that since the era of cold war, the US and the former Soviet Union have engaged in a space and arm race, with the former leading in the space race while the latter leads in the arm race.

The Soviets were the first to launch the world's first human-made satellite in the space known as Sputnike-1. NASA was created the following week, and within months the US launched Explorer-1, in January 1958.

Chike Nnamani is a writer and public affairs analyst.