The 30,000-pound bomb that could be used against Iran's nuclear facilities 'boggles the mind.

Negotiators are working toward a June 30 deadline for a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran.

Should the negotiations ultimately fail and the talks fall apart, the Obama administration and any future US president will have what Michael Crowley of Politico describes as an awe-inspiring "plan B" — the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).

According to Crowley, the US has practiced at least three attack runs over the New Mexico desert. These runs have been flown by B-2 bombers and are meant to test the US' trump card against any attempt to procure a nuclear weapon, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

MOP, which is 20 feet long and weighs 15 tons, "boggles the mind," according to a former Pentagon official who spoke to Politico after watching footage of the tests.

There's no publicly available footage of the tests, but this footage of a BLU-109 in action gives an idea of how the MOP works. Bunker-buster munitions burst through a target's defensive layering before the warhead detonates:
The BLU-109 has a 535-pound warhead and weighs about a ton. The MOP carries about 5,300 pounds of explosives, giving it an explosive yield about an order of magnitude greater than the weapon in the video.

The MOP is the world's largest nonnuclear weapon. Designed to hit hardened targets, bunkers, and locations deep under ground, the MOP hits the ground at supersonic speed after being released from a B-2 bomber. After impact, the bomb can burrow through 200 feet of earth and 60 feet of concrete before detonating.
Russia has announced that it would be willing to sell the S-300 air-defense system, which can hit aircraft at high altitude from a 150-mile range, to Iran.

If Iran were to acquire the S-300s, Tehran would be able to set up a formidable ring of defense around its nuclear sites.

This would make Iranian air defenses much more difficult to overcome, raising the scale and the stakes of any US bombing run against the country's nuclear facilities.

Unquestionably!
A wet, hair encrusted booger could be flicked at them.

That doesn't mean such martial means would forcefully neutralize Iran's program.

The issue is whether aerial attack could neutralize Iran's nuclear program, the way is neutralized Iraq's.

I know of no persuasive evidence of that.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-30000-pound-bomb-that-could-be-used-against-irans-nuclear-facilities-boggles-the-mind-2015-6?r=US

Iran and Iraq had completely different paths to a bomb. One can make Plutonium with a reactor or one can enrich uranium with a centrifuge. Iraq's reactor was an easy target and only took conventional weapons to destroy. Centrifuges can be hidden anywhere and only require a source of uranium ore which Iran has.

Indeed.
And this is why Israel was able to terminate Iraq's program, but quite likely does not have the capacity to neutralize Iran's.

Iran is known to have dangerous modern missiles; some of which I gather travel at Mach 5.

The two scenarios I know of to neutralize Iran's subterranean nuclear infrastructure are:

a) ground troops:
Whether a squad of commandos, or battalions of infantry; invade, occupy, destroy.

- or -

b) Drop from the air a nuke over the underground site.
The first nuke forms a crater.
Then drop the second nuke into the crater made by the first.
That deepens the crater.
Then drop in the third
and then the 4th ...

According to what I've read of it;
in Iran's case, it would take a minimum of 7
precise hits to neutralize Iran's main underground nuclear facility.

IF Iran's air-space were completely undefended, getting that
seven in a row with nuclear weapons would be tricky.

But considering what Iran's military air defense are reported to be,
Israel might well lose that battle of attrition.

they actually have low yield nuclear bunker busting bombs, so all those steps aren't necessary...they just need the exact location...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/03/pentagon-upgrades-bunker-buster-bomb-in-attempt-to-penetrate-key-iran-nuke-site/

a few years ago, they sold/gave a bunch of these to Israel...

Indeed!

a) They're nuclear.
So YOU are talking about STARTING nuclear War in the Middle East; against Iran !!

b) These nuclear munitions have the capacity to penetrate soil; but only within finite limits. They cannot cleave the planet in two.

c) The military sources I've consulted on this specific issue assert it would take 7 consecutive direct hits, to penetrate deep enough to reach & destroy the Iranian nuclear facility we're addressing here.

i don't think any military discloses all of it's secrets... there are weapons out there that can penetrate 20-30 feet of hardened concrete and steel...

http://science.howstuffworks.com/bunker-buster.htm

Dispense with the military ordnance.

I'll gladly loan my magic wand to any person / persons / entities that want it; Israel, Saudi Arabia, or even the military under U.S. President Obama's command.

Just jiggle the wand a little, say "Alex Kazam", and every centrifuge within Iran's sovereign borders vanishes in a sulfurous cloud.

Then what?

yea, that seems to be the democrats answer to everything...

That would severely limit their production of weapons grade uranium. That's what.

Yes al.
But for how long?