Anthropic said it disrupted three Iranian state-aligned influence operations that allegedly used its Claude artificial intelligence system to help design propaganda campaigns, disguise state-backed messaging as independent content and target audiences in multiple languages across social media platforms.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The company said the accounts were linked to actors working within or on behalf of three Iranian state propaganda institutions: the Islamic Culture and Communications Organization under the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Islamic Propaganda Office of Khorasan Razavi and the Islamic Propaganda Organization’s Bina Cultural Observatory.According to Anthropic, the actors described their efforts as part of a “soft war” or “cognitive warfare” program aimed at shaping public opinion inside Iran and abroad.The groups used Claude to build campaign plans, doctrine manuals, persona systems, target databases and ministerial planning documents, allowing them to produce organizational structures and campaign material that Anthropic said would otherwise have required a fully staffed program office.The actors also focused heavily on concealing the state origins of their messaging, according to the company’s threat intelligence report released on Thursday.As one actor linked to the Islamic Culture and Communications Organization put it, the role of cultural attachés was “not to be the narrator, but the director” of the narratives.Anthropic said the groups took deliberate steps to hide their identities and locations. Because access to Claude from within Iran is blocked, the actors used virtual private networks (VPN) and foreign phone numbers to register and verify accounts.Despite those efforts, they repeatedly disclosed their locations, institutions and roles in conversations with Claude, while institutionally branded documents and open-source information helped tie the accounts to the relevant organizations.Anthropic said it later identified and banned the accounts associated with all three operations, cutting off their access to Claude and sharing information about the activity with industry and research partners.