Speeding Up the “Kill Chain”: Pentagon Bombs Thousands of Targets in Iran Using Palantir AI

Speeding Up the “Kill Chain”: Pentagon Bombs Thousands of Targets in Iran Using Palantir AI

[We reprint below excerpts from six articles from Democracy Now: The War and Peace Report, March 18, 2026.]

[Photo above: Israel says it killed Iran’s intelligence minister, ​Esmail Khatib, in a strike overnight in Tehran. It’s the latest assassination of the country’s senior leadership. This comes as Iran is set to hold funerals today for its security chief, Ali Larijani, and Basij commander, Gholamreza Soleimani, both of whom were also killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday.]

As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran continues, we look at how the Pentagon is using artificial intelligence in its operations. The system, known as Project Maven, relies on technology by Palantir and also incorporates the AI model Claude built by Anthropic. Israel has used similar AI targeting programs in Iran, as well as in Gaza and Lebanon.

Craig Jones, an expert on modern warfare, says AI technology is helping militaries speed up the “kill chain,” the process of identifying, approving and striking targets. “You’re reducing a massive human workload of tens of thousands of hours into seconds and minutes. You’re reducing workflows, and you’re automating human-made targeting decisions in ways which open up all kinds of problematic legal, ethical and political questions,” says Jones.

Trump’s Counterterrorism Chief Resigns over Iran War, Criticizes “Pressure from Israel”

A top national security official resigned from the Trump administration Tuesday in response to the war on Iran. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Joe Kent, [Photo above] who served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in his resignation letter.

We speak with Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned in 2023 to protest the Biden administration’s Gaza policy. He says Kent is at least the 16th U.S. official in the last few years to resign over policy related to Israel, spanning both the Biden and Trump administrations.

“We know that there is a very visible, very vocal debate happening in the Democratic Party on that topic. It’s clear that there is also a very vocal debate happening within the right wing of American politics,” says Paul.

Israel Kills Iran’s Intelligence Minister in an Overnight Strike on Tehran

Israel says it killed Iran’s intelligence minister, ​Esmail Khatib, in a strike overnight in Tehran. It’s the latest assassination of the country’s senior leadership. This comes as Iran is set to hold funerals today for its security chief, Ali Larijani, and Basij commander, Gholamreza Soleimani, both of whom were also killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday. Iran vowed revenge and launched retaliatory strikes against Israel. Two people were killed near Tel Aviv by an Iranian missile strike, Israeli emergency responders said earlier today. On Tuesday, the U.S. dropped 5,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs along Iran’s coast near the Strait of Hormuz to target Iran’s anti-ship cruise missiles.

It comes as Joe Kent, the director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, resigned Tuesday over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. In a letter to President Trump, posted on X, Kent wrote, “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” Kent is the first senior official to openly break with the White House over the war on Iran. He is a longtime Trump supporter who unsuccessfully ran for Congress twice. During his 2022 election bid, Kent hired a member of the far-right Proud Boys as a consultant. Meanwhile, top intelligence officials are expected to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee later today. It comes as senior Israeli officials have told U.S. diplomats that Iranian protesters will “get slaughtered” if they demonstrate against their government, even as Israel has been promoting anti-regime protests. That’s according to a State Department cable reviewed by The Washington Post. Iran’s Ministry of Health says at least 1,444 people have been killed and nearly 19,000 people have been injured in U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28. This is a worker with the Iranian Red Crescent.

Saeed Seperhikia: “During the operations of the imposed war from the U.S. and Israel against my country, the Islamic state of Iran, we have seen many heartbreaking scenes. Unfortunately, we have witnessed killing and injuring many of our civilian citizens that happened during the attacks to residential places at night or during other times and created tragic scenes.”

Iran Continues to Launch Retaliatory Strikes Against Gulf Countries

Iran continues to launch retaliatory strikes against its neighbors in the region. In Iraq, Iranian rocket attacks have targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and a drone sparked a fire at a luxury hotel in the city’s heavily fortified Green Zone. In the UAE, an Iranian projectile landed near a military base that hosts Australian troops. Several Gulf nations, including Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, said they were continuing to intercept Iranian missiles and drones. On Monday, Iran launched almost 100 drones at Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi Defense Ministry.

U.N. Warns 45 Million People at Risk of Acute Hunger Due to U.S.-Israeli War on Iran

Gas prices in the U.S. continue to increase, as Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, which sees the passage of about 20% of the world’s oil supply. According to AAA, the national average price for gas reached $3.84 a gallon on Wednesday, rising 5 cents a day. Overall, gas prices have jumped 29% since the war began. This comes as the U.N. warns that 45 million people around the world are at risk of acute hunger due to rising food prices sparked by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Says Strait of Hormuz “Won’t Return to Its Pre-War Status”

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, issued a stark warning about the Strait of Hormuz, saying in a post on X that the strait “won’t return to its pre-war status.” This comes as President Trump blasted NATO members, as they informed the U.S. that they will not get involved in Trump’s coalition to reopen to strait. In a post on X, President Trump wrote, “I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need.” This is French President Emmanuel Macron. “We are not party to the conflict, and therefore France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context.”