Iran claims to possess ‘father of all bombs’

TEHRAN - The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace wing and missile program has claimed that Iran is in possession of hugely destructive missiles comparable to the United States’ so-called “Mother Of All Bombs,” the world’s largest non-nuclear bomb.

"These bombs are at our disposal, can be launched from aircraft and they are highly destructive," said General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Airspace Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, without providing any further details on the capabilities of the ordinance.

"Following a proposal by the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), [Iran’s] Defense Industries [Organization] manufactured a 10-ton bomb," PressTV cited the commander as saying.

Speaking to the country's state news agency FARS, Hajizadeh described the bomb as “the father of all bombs” inviting comparison with the Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) which the US Air Force dropped on tunnels in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province from an MC-130 aircraft in April.

The MOAB is the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US military, Its explosion is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT and the blast radius is a mile wide

The announcement comes as tensions are escalating between the US and Iran over the development of its military program.

Earlier this month, Iranian state media claimed the country’s military had tested its first ever long-range missile defence system.