April 21, 2017
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, slammed as “illegitimate” the US dropping of a large bomb on Afghanistan, reminding Washington that bombardment of other countries would not guarantee its national security.
“Bombing people and countries could never strengthen that country’s (US) national security,” Shamkhani said Sunday.
His comments came after the US dropped a Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb—the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US military—on an area of eastern Afghanistan Friday targeting Islamic State forces.
Shamkhani said “unilateral measures” by the US and some of its allies have emboldened terrorist groups.”
The Islamic Republic has been making a major issue of the use of the MOAB—which carries 11 tons of explosive—as has much of the media in the US and around the world, treating it as a major military development. However, many American warplanes can carry more than 11 tons of explosive. A single B-52 bomber, for example, carries 28 tons of explosive spread over 81 bombs.
The US did not claim it used the MOAB to strengthen US national security, as Shamkhani said, but because it was the ideal weapon to target IS tunnels and underground shelters that were spread over a large but shallow area.
Shamkhani did not explain what was “illegitimate” about the MOAB.
