AI Military Deployment in the 2026 Iran War

The 2026 Iran war, which began February 28, marks the first large-scale deployment of frontier AI models in active armed conflict. Claude AI (via Palantir's Maven Smart System) was used for intelligence assessments, target identification, and battle simulations — even as Anthropic was being blacklisted by the Pentagon for refusing to allow unrestricted military use. The conflict also closed the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting 20% of global oil supply. A King's College London wargaming study found AI models chose nuclear escalation in 95% of simulated crises, and a strike on a girls' school killing ~175 people raised acute questions about AI-enabled targeting. ChinaTalk published satirical fiction imagining Claude autonomously negotiating to reopen the Strait — a scenario that crystallizes the tension between AI autonomy and human control in warfare.