The ongoing US-Israel war on Iran has been described by some analysts as the “first AI war,” reflecting how artificial intelligence is reshaping military operations. Recent deployments of AI in intelligence collection and targeting have dramatically accelerated the military “kill chain” the process from identifying a target to executing a strike.
According to a former Mossad agent, the airstrike that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on February 28, 2026, took only sixty seconds from decision to action. U.S. and Israeli forces have increasingly relied on AI to process vast amounts of intelligence, including intercepted communications, internet monitoring, satellite imagery, and drone video feeds.
Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, confirmed that AI tools allow leaders to sift through enormous datasets in seconds, drastically shortening the time required to make decisions. Earlier examples include the U.S. Army’s 18th Airborne Corps in 2024, which used AI to reduce a team of 2,000 analysts to just 20, dramatically accelerating intelligence processing.
From slow targeting to real-time strikes
The push for speed in military operations has a long history. During World War II, the targeting cycle from collecting reconnaissance photos to planning strikes could take weeks or months. In the 1991 Gulf War, mobile missile launchers used “shoot and scoot” tactics, requiring rapid tracking and response.
The armed Predator drone, first used in 2002, represented a breakthrough. High-resolution video could be transmitted in real time from the drone to U.S. operators, who could immediately fire missiles on targets. Today, AI amplifies this concept, allowing strikes at speeds human operators could never achieve.
Risks for civilians
The rapid pace of AI-enabled targeting carries enormous risks for civilians. In Gaza, Israeli AI systems Lavender and Gospel have reportedly been programmed to tolerate up to 100 civilian casualties or sometimes more for a single suspected combatant. Since October 2023, more than 75,000 people have died in Gaza under such operations.
In Iran, over 1,200 civilians have been killed since the conflict began, according to the Iranian Health Ministry. Strikes on schools and hospitals have claimed hundreds of lives, including at least 175 children in a February 28 attack on an elementary school. The U.S. secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, emphasized that the military aims for “maximum lethality, not tepid legality,” signaling a prioritization of speed and destructive effect over civilian safety.
Lowering the threshold for war
AI’s speed may also lower the threshold for initiating military action. Human oversight in targeting decisions has decreased, with lawyers and compliance officers who previously advised on international law sidelined. By reducing the role of human judgment, AI can inadvertently normalize higher civilian casualties and make military intervention easier to authorize.
Analysis
The Iran conflict illustrates the profound strategic and ethical challenges of AI in warfare. While faster processing and targeting may provide tactical advantages, the costs are steep: civilian lives, potential violations of international law, and an increased risk of miscalculation.
AI’s integration into military kill chains represents a pivotal moment in modern warfare. The balance between speed, precision, and ethical restraint is becoming increasingly fragile, raising urgent questions about oversight, accountability, and the long-term consequences of delegating life-and-death decisions to machines.
The Iran war shows that in the AI era, the old adage holds true: faster is not always better especially when human lives hang in the balance.
With information from Reuters.
