The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the United States recently used Anthropic's artificial intelligence (AI) model "Claude" in airstrikes on Iran. Just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's technology, the United States carried out large-scale airstrikes against Iran with Claude's help.
WSJ, citing sources familiar with the matter, said several commands around the world, including U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), are using Anthropic's Claude. The sources said Central Command has been using Claude for intelligence assessments, target identification and battlefield simulations even as tensions rose between Anthropic and the Ministry of National Defense. Analysts say this shows how deeply AI tools, including Claude, are already involved in military operations.
The U.S. Ministry of National Defense and Anthropic have clashed for months over how and to what extent AI should be used. The Ministry of National Defense demanded a full opening of AI's military applications, but Anthropic maintained that its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or the development of fully autonomous lethal weapons.
Accordingly, on the 27th, a day before the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, 89, President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's technology. In a post on Truth Social, Trump called Anthropic "radical left zealots" and said, "Their selfishness has put American lives at risk and jeopardized our military and national security."
Immediately after Trump's order, U.S. Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Pete Hegseth officially designated Anthropic as a "supply chain risk to national security." This is the first time the U.S. government has designated a domestic corporations, rather than companies from adversary nations such as China or Russia, as a supply chain risk. Under the designation, Anthropic is barred from any commercial transaction with tens of thousands of subcontractors that do business with the U.S. Ministry of National Defense.
However, Trump said he would allow a six-month phased wind-down because Anthropic's AI is currently used throughout U.S. government systems.
Claude is effectively the only AI currently usable on classified U.S. military systems, and the United States also used Claude in the process of arresting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. WSJ said, "Anthropic's technology is used widely through partners such as data analytics company Palantir, making replacement complicated," adding, "That is why a six-month grace period was set to phase out use of the technology."
With Anthropic being fully expelled, the Ministry of National Defense signed contracts with rivals OpenAI and xAI, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, to integrate their AIs into classified networks.
Anthropic issued a statement saying, "No threats or punishments from the Ministry of National Defense will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons," and added, "Supply chain risk companies are meant to apply only to America's adversaries, so the designation is unfair," signaling legal action.
In the United States, as public opposition to the government's action spreads, there is a movement to boycott OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has government contracts, and to use Anthropic's Claude. After the Trump administration's expulsion decision, Claude topped the U.S. Apple App Store's free app rankings for the first time, surpassing ChatGPT. An Anthropic Spokesperson told CNBC that new sign-ups hit an all-time high this week, free users have increased more than 60% since January, and paid subscribers have more than doubled since the start of the year.