The conflict in Iran reveals urgent lessons about AI as a weapon of war and statecraft. Led by one of Washington's top experts on Iranian strategy, military doctrine, and the IRGC, this panel provides an assessment of how the Iranian regime has used autonomous systems and machine learning to expand its reach; how AI tools have supercharged propaganda campaigns and cyber-enabled information warfare; and in the financial realm, how emerging technologies have enabled large-scale fraud and illicit funding of Tehran's proxies. What does the Iranian regime's battlefield experimentation reveal? And how can the policy, technical, and intelligence communities respond?

To explore these questions and more, join Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD's Iran Program; Max Lesser, senior analyst on emerging threats at FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI); and Max Meizlish, research fellow at FDD's the Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP), at the Special Competitive Studies Project's AI+ Expo.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/05/06/ai-on-the-front-line-lessons-from-the-iran-conflict/