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Reps. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) announced legislation on Tuesday aimed at halting the Iranian regime’s nuclear aspirations.
The two congressmen unveiled “the Bunker Buster Act,” which would allow the U.S. president to provide Israel with the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, a munition capable of destroying underground facilities developing nuclear weapons.
The legislation would require the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct a study with the Jewish state to produce a report for Congress on whether transferring “bunker buster” bombs would serve America’s national security interests. The weapon weighs 30,000 pounds, measures 20.5 feet in length, and according to the Air Force, is intended to penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding.
U.S. President Joe Biden does not possess the authority to give Israel this weapon. The legislation would provide congressional authorization for him—or the victor of the 2024 presidential contest—to do so following the completion of the study.
“We cannot sit silently while the ayatollah and his minions plot to wipe Israel off the map,” said Mast, who urged that “Israel must have the tools necessary to protect its people against Iranian aggression.”
Gottheimer called the bill “critical to America’s global fight against terrorism.”
He said that “while Iran and its terrorist proxies continue to wreak havoc and chaos around the world, we must ensure they can never threaten the U.S. or our allies with a nuclear weapon.”
The Air Force described the bomb as “a weapon system designed to accomplish a difficult, complicated mission of reaching and destroying our adversaries’ weapons of mass destruction located in well-protected facilities. It is more powerful than its predecessor, the BLU-109.
