WarSclerotic

The US has upgraded its biggest bunker buster bomb specifically to enable the destruction of Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment plant near the city of Qom, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the Pentagon sees the move as critical to convincing Israel that the US will indeed prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons and possesses weaponry to do so that Israel does not have.

The Journal quoted diplomats as saying that US officials had showed video footage to their Israeli counterparts of an earlier version of the bunker buster in action and explained the advanced features which have been added.

The video displays the bomb hitting the ground near its target and setting off a massive underground explosion, sources told the Journal.

The bunker buster, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), is 30,000 pounds and has been improved with “adjusted fuses to maximize its burrowing power, upgraded guidance systems to improve its precision and high-tech equipment intended to allow it to evade Iranian air defenses in order to reach and destroy the Fordow nuclear enrichment complex,” according to the Journal.

“Hopefully we never have to use it, but if we had to, it would work.” the Journal quoted a senior US official as saying.

The report added that the existence of a bomb that has the capability of destroying the underground facility from the air could also give the West extra bargaining power in nuclear negotiations with the Iranians.

The Journal quoted US officials as saying the improved MOP will serve to convince Israel to hold off on unilateraly attacking Iran and give Washington more time to diplomatically neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat.