Elon Musk's Grok Rained Bombs On Iran Even As Anthropic Pulled Out, Pentagon Reveals

Published 17 June 2026 · world

Elon Musk's Grok Rained Bombs On Iran Even As Anthropic Pulled Out, Pentagon Reveals Published By, Last Updated: June 17, 2026, 18:58 IST Pentagon AI

Elon Musk's Grok Rained Bombs On Iran Even As Anthropic Pulled Out, Pentagon Reveals Published By, Last Updated: June 17, 2026, 18:58 IST Pentagon AI chief confirmed under oath that Grok replaced Claude inside Project Maven and enabled 2,000+ munitions strikes in 96 hours during Operation Epic Fury. Rapid Read A DOJ legal brief defending xAI's Memphis data centre turbines has confirmed, under oath, that Grok replaced Anthropic's Claude inside Project Maven and enabled over 2,000 strikes in 96 hours during Operation Epic Fury. (Image Courtesy: AFP) Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence tool Grok was used in strikes against Iran, the US government revealed in a legal brief seen Tuesday by AFP, after the Pentagon shifted away from Anthropic’s Claude following a contract dispute and turned to xAI to sustain its AI-assisted targeting programme.

The June 15 brief was filed by the US Department of Justice in defence of gas turbines powering an xAI data centre. The NAACP, a civil rights organisation defending the rights of Black Americans, had sued xAI, alleging it was operating dozens of turbines in majority Black neighbourhoods in Memphis without permits, in violation of the Clean Air Act. xAI says the turbines are temporary and mobile, and therefore outside regulatory scope. To argue that shutting down the turbines posed a national security risk, federal prosecutors submitted sworn testimony from Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley, who confirmed that Grok is already operational within Project Maven, the US military’s AI-assisted targeting system. Stanley’s statement said Maven Smart Systems “enabled US forces to deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours during Operation Epic Fury." He credited “the greatly increased operational efficiency made possible by the Grok Gov Model." Project Maven was initially powered by Anthropic’s Claude.

In February, the government terminated its contracts with Anthropic after the company refused to allow its tools to be used for fully automated strikes or the mass surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon then approached Google, OpenAI, and xAI. In March, the government acknowledged Claude was still being used for Iran war operations during the transition period. At Google, more than 600 employees demanded the company refuse AI contracts for classified military operations. Broader concerns about AI autonomy in warfare have continued across the industry. Musk folded xAI into his space exploration company SpaceX in February. SpaceX carried out what was reported as the largest IPO in history on June 12. News18 Newsletter Handpicked stories, in your inbox A newsletter with the best of our journalism submit About the Author Anoshito Banerjee Anoshito Banerjee is a digital journalist at CNN-News18, specialising in Indian foreign policy, global diplomacy, South and West Asian geopolitics, and strategic affairs.