Iran used Claude to target US Navy in Middle East, Anthropic says

Anthropic reported that an Iran-linked actor used Claude between December 2025 and August 2026 to compile targeting handbooks on U.S. Navy forces in the Middle East. The activity drew on public photographs, ship and aircraft transponders, commercial-satellite-imagery query scripts and websites tracking naval movements, while also probing possible weaknesses in shipboard systems. Anthropic said it banned the account, added safeguards and shared information with government agencies; its report also described a Yemeni group using Claude to develop guided-missile targeting software. The disclosure documents attempted AI-assisted intelligence preparation, not a confirmed successful attack generated by the model.