Trump Ordered To Ban Anthropic, Later US Military Used Its Claude AI In Iran Strikes: Report

Last Updated:March 01, 2026, 11:00 IST

US defence forces used Anthropic's AI Claude for airstrikes on Iran, hours after Trump ordered a phase-out and labeling Anthropic a supply chain risk amid rising tensions.

The US defence forces used artificial intelligence developed by Anthropic during the airstrikes on Iran, just hours after US President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop working with the tech firm, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

As per the report, citing people familiar with the matter, the US Command force used Anthropic’s AI for intelligence assessments, target identification and simulating battle scenarios.

The use of Claude in such high-stakes missions highlights that the model is already integrated into US military operations even as relations between Anthropic and the Pentagon have deteriorated sharply, the report said citing sources.

Claude had previously been approved for use in classified military and intelligence operations through partnerships involving Palantir and Amazon Web Services. It was also used during its operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year.

As per the report, Anthropic’s AI model was deployed during the January raid in Caracas that led to Maduro’s capture and transfer to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. Maduro and his wife were captured from Caracas after several sites were bombed by US defence forces.

Anthropic was among a small group of major AI labs – alongside OpenAI, Google and xAI – that secured multiyear Pentagon contracts worth up to $200 million each to provide advanced AI capabilities.

Last week, Trump ordered all federal agencies to “immediately cease" using Anthropic’s technology, calling the company “leftwing nut jobs" and accusing it of putting “American lives at risk."

He directed the Pentagon to designate Anthropic a “supply chain risk" and initiate a six-month phase-out of its systems across agencies, including what he referred to as the “Department of War."

Tensions escalated in recent weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic a deadline to allow unrestricted use of its AI tools for any “lawful" military purpose. Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, publicly rejected demands to drop safeguards against specific uses, framing them as ethical red lines that the company would not cross, even at the cost of government contracts.

In a blog post, Anthropic said designating it as a supply chain risk would be “an unprecedented action" historically reserved for US adversaries.

“As the first frontier AI company to deploy models in the US government’s classified networks, Anthropic has supported American warfighters since June 2024 and has every intention of continuing to do so," the company said.

Anthropic added that it believes the designation would be legally unsound and said it plans to challenge the move in court.

The report noted that the use of Claude in high-profile missions is among the reasons why US administration had said that it would take six months to phase out the technology from the AI startup.

News world Trump Ordered To Ban Anthropic, Later US Military Used Its Claude AI In Iran Strikes: Report

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