🗞️ Story file #508
U.S. military weighs use of 'mother of all bombs' against Iran
Oct 15, 8 AM ET to Oct 18, 9 AM ET
- 21outlets carried it
- 🫏7 · 3 · 11🐘left · center · right
- 3 dayson the front pages
- 20front pages at once, at its peak
- 52 sof TV captions
- 1radio newscast
- 1 of 2parts of a saga
👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.
- Oct 15, 8 AM ETfirst on a front page: News Nation
- Oct 16, 5 AM ETfirst on the radio: ABC News Update
- Oct 16, 1 PM ETpeak: on 20 front pages
- Oct 17, 3 PM ETfirst on TV: Fox News
📰 Spread
the front pages that ran it, hour by hour
📌 linked by aggregators: Political Wire
💬 quoted: “Mother of All Bombs” 6 “Performative” “smart bomb” “mother of all bombs” 16 “MOAB”
🗣️ only one side says: 🐘 military weighs
✏️ 7 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)
- Breitbart (2 wordings): “Report: U.S. Weighs ‘Mother of All Bombs’ for Potential Strikes on Iran” → “Report: U.S. Military Weighs ‘Mother of All Bombs’ for Potential Strikes on Iran”
- CNBC (2 wordings): “U.S. reportedly weighs use of 'mother of all bombs' as Iran vows to fight on” → “U.S. reportedly considers use of 'mother of all bombs' as Iran vows to fight on”
- Military.com (2 wordings): “Trump Administration Mulls Using 'Mother of All Bombs' Against Iran: Report Read More” → “Trump Administration Mulls Using 'Mother of All Bombs' Against Iran: Report”
- New York Post (2 wordings): “The US military has developed strike plans that could include using the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, also known as the “mother of all bombs,” against Iran, according to a report.” → “Zero hour US military weighs use of ‘mother of all bombs’ in future strikes on Iran: report”
- Newsmax (4 wordings): “Report: US Weighs 'Mother of All Bombs' on Iran” → “Trump: Non-Nuclear MOAB Option in Iran”
- The Sun (2 wordings): “ONCE AND FOR ALL Trump readying to unleash ‘mother of all bombs’ against Iran” → “ONCE AND FOR ALL Trump readying to unleash ‘mother of all bombs’ against Iran THE huge 21,600lb 'smart bomb' could form part of Washington's war-ending assault on Tehran's energy infrastructure and nuclear sites.”
- Yahoo News (4 wordings): “Exclusive: US considering using ‘mother of all bombs’ against Iran, sources say” → “U.S. reportedly weighs using its most powerful non-nuclear bomb against Iran”
Every outlet's first headline (21), left to right by AllSides rating
The New Republic
Trump Gives Garbled Description of Bomb He Wants to Drop on Iran Oct 16, 10 AM ET
CBS News
White House prepares plans to use "mother of all bombs" on Iran Oct 15, 4 PM ET
CNBC
U.S. reportedly weighs use of 'mother of all bombs' as Iran vows to fight on Oct 15, 7 AM ET
CNN
CNN Exclusive US considering using ‘mother of all bombs’ against Iran, sources say Oct 15, 1 AM ET
Mediaite
‘Performative’: CNN Reporter Details Trump Looking at Dropping ‘Mother of All Bombs’ On Iran Oct 15, 6 PM ET
Military.com
Trump Administration Mulls Using 'Mother of All Bombs' Against Iran: Report Read More Oct 15, 8 PM ET
Yahoo News
Exclusive: US considering using ‘mother of all bombs’ against Iran, sources say Oct 15, 3 AM ET
Bloomberg
Trump Muses on Future Iran Strike With ‘Mother of All Bombs’ Oct 15, 10 PM ET
News Nation
US plans for Iran include 'mother of all bombs': CNN report Oct 15, 8 AM ET
Reuters
US military weighs use of ‘mother of all bombs’ in potential future strikes on Iran, CNN says Oct 15, 1 AM ET
Just the News
New strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure and nuke sites may use 'mother of all bombs': sources Oct 15, 10 AM ET
The American Conservative
Iran War Day 230: U.S. Considering Use of ‘Mother of All Bombs’ on Iran, Per Report Oct 15, 2 PM ET
The Epoch Times
US Considering Use of ‘Mother of All Bombs’ Against Iran Oct 16, 1 PM ET
The Sun
ONCE AND FOR ALL Trump readying to unleash ‘mother of all bombs’ against Iran Oct 15, 5 AM ET
Breitbart
Report: U.S. Weighs ‘Mother of All Bombs’ for Potential Strikes on Iran Oct 15, 6 PM ET
New York Post
The US military has developed strike plans that could include using the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, also known as the “mother of all bombs,” against Iran, according to a report. Oct 15, 8 AM ET
Newsmax
Report: US Weighs 'Mother of All Bombs' on Iran Oct 15, 8 AM ET
PJ Media
Trump Mulls Using 'Mother of All Bombs' to Hit Iran Oct 16, 11 AM ET
The Daily Wire
Trump Admin Prepares Plans To Use ‘Mother Of All Bombs’ Against Iran Oct 16, 1 PM ET
The Western Journal
Trump Considering Using 'Mother of All Bombs' Against Iran: Report Oct 16, 12 PM ET
Townhall
Iranian Regime Could Face 'Mother of All Bombs' Soon Oct 15, 2 PM ET
📡 Broadcast
TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it
📺 On TV
- TRUMP: IRAN CAN'T HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON Fox News, 37 s
- TRUMP: IRAN CAN'T HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPON, WILL USE IT Fox News, 15 s
📻 On the radio
- ABC News Update, Oct 16, 5:32 AM ET: story 2 of 3
🧶 Retelling
what people online made of it
🦗 Nobody's retelling it online yet, as far as the daily reports of the last week can tell.
🗣️ names in it: Iran CNN GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb Mother of all bombs
🔎 Checking
what the fact-checkers looked into
🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.
🧵 Persistence
the running story it belongs to
🧵 Trump threatens Iran strike
U.S. military weighs use of 'mother of all bombs' against Iran (this story)
Oct 15, 8 AM ET
Trump says U.S. may launch another military operation against Iran
Oct 24, 11 AM ET