Trump confirms strike against Iran nuclear facility possible, but U.S. won't use nuclear weapons

President Donald Trump on Thursday said that the U.S. might carry out strikes against Iran's nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain, as well as other nuclear sites. 

Any attacks the U.S. military carries out, however, will not involve the use of nuclear weapons, Trump told Newsmax. 

The interview followed reports that the Pentagon was drawing up plans for strikes that would use the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, also known as the "mother of all bombs," or MOAB. 

Trump told Newsmax that the MOAB is not a nuclear weapon. 

"No, it's not nuclear at all. This is just an extremely large bomb. It's like a tiny nuclear bomb. The mother of all bombs is one big bomb, but it's not nuclear," Trump said. 

The MOAB weighs approximately 21,600 pounds, and it is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. It was used in combat for the first time in April 2017 against an Islamic State group tunnel complex in Afghanistan. The bomb is typically delivered via a Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft.