Iran-Linked AI Operations Raise Fresh US National Security Concerns

US-based AI company Anthropic said it had identified and disrupted an Iran‑linked account that used its Claude artificial intelligence model to collect and analyse publicly available information on US naval assets to develop targeting recommendations against them.

Iran-linked operators used Claude AI to compile "targeting handbooks" and identify and track naval positions through open-source information, the AI company said.

The report said the account used a Python pipeline built with Claude’s assistance to track naval positions from open‑source data.

The material contained names of US personnel gathered from captions on public military photographs, ship and aircraft transponder identifiers, commercial satellite-imagery query scripts and lists of public websites exposing US naval movements.

Anthropic said the account also used Claude to research potential vulnerabilities in shipboard systems, including maritime satellite terminals, Cisco communications equipment and industrial control products.

Claude was used for cataloguing known CVEs in maritime VSAT terminals, the AI company said.

The report said it is unclear whether intelligence generated with Claude had been used in any specific Iranian military operation.

The disclosure from the AI company came after Iranian forces recently targeted US naval assets, including guided‑missile destroyers and facilities in the Gulf region, incidents that Washington said caused damage but no US casualties.

Iran also targeted the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, Naval Support Activity Bahrain, in which US claims the warships evaded the attacks without casualties, but the strikes damaged the Bahrain facility.

The Anthropic report also mentioned that an account linked to the Islamic Culture and Communications Organization uploaded detailed organisational blueprints for erstwhile Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral and succession plans onto Claude.

Khamenei was buried in Mashhad on July 9, 2026, after a multi-day State funeral procession following his death in a US-Israeli strike on February 28, 2026.