It was a shock when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps revealed during war games that they were using AI on home-grown drones, firing missiles that autonomously locked on to moving targets.
The leap was achieved despite advanced AI chips being officially off-limits to Iran due to sanctions.
It was one of several recent announcements indicating Tehran does not want to be left behind in the AI race. Under an official strategy, it aims to rank among the world’s top 10 AI powers by 2032, contributing 12 per cent to its gross domestic product.
Next month Tehran will host its first AI exhibition, featuring experts and training workshops. Iran’s goals raise a pivotal question: is this a blueprint for technological sovereignty, or a quixotic pursuit in a field dominated by resource-rich rivals such as the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE?
"If Tehran is trying to build AI, it will be primarily to reinforce the security state, support asymmetric warfare in the region and project technological relevance despite isolation," said Mohammed Soliman, a technology expert and author of West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East.
But with foreign AI increasingly supporting the Farsi language, the fast pace of global tech could leave Iran sidelined. “Iranian models are impressive but small in scale; to match global competitors like GPT or Falcon Arabic, we need far greater computational power,” said Alireza Karami, an expert on industrial AI adoption.
“We end up relying on smuggled chips and second-tier solutions. That slows innovation, weakens reliability and leaves our projects far behind the global pace.”
Iran's ambitions
Iranian leaders have framed AI as a national priority. “AI is not just a technology, it is a new, shared language shaping the future of economy, politics, industry a
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