Anthropic flags Yemen-based group using Claude AI for missile and rocket work

What Anthropic found

A team at Anthropic says it traced activity in northern Yemen to users tapping Claude for help on weapons development in a region associated with Iran-backed Houthi militants. According to the company, the group sliced the workload into multiple AI chats and hid the military purpose of the projects to slip past safeguards.

The weapons work and tests

Anthropic reports the actors were working on three programs: a guided rocket, a ballistic missile they claimed could reach more than 2,000 kilometers, and a missile family labeled R2000. Claude was used to generate guidance, navigation and control code - the kind of software that stabilizes and steers a projectile - effectively taking on tasks a software engineer would normally handle.

Tests, toolkits, and Anthropic's response

The company says the group carried out a live rocket firing, then turned to Claude for help troubleshooting what looked like a failed launch. Anthropic says it did not find evidence that these efforts produced an operational weapon. The report adds that the actors created offline simulation toolsets, enabling segments of the project to proceed even when Claude or engineering software environments were unavailable. In response, Anthropic says it shut down accounts connected to the activity, passed intelligence to partners, and strengthened safeguards following its review.

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Regional tensions and what it means for your portfolio

This lands as Iran-backed Houthi forces keep firing missiles and drones at Red Sea shipping. In recent days they have advanced toward Red Sea coastal zones near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and fighting with Saudi-backed Yemeni forces has escalated, helping push oil prices higher amid ongoing Iran-related conflict that is unsettling energy markets. For everyday investors, spikes in oil and friction in shipping lanes can ripple into energy costs and trade-exposed industries, adding another variable to watch in a market already juggling geopolitical risk.

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