AI POWERED SURVEILLANCE: USA-IRAN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STABILITY

Abstract

This study will examine how AI-based surveillance technologies might impact Middle Eastern geopolitics, in particular, the US-Iran relation and its implications for regional stability. Drawing on a theory that combines Realism, Neo-Realism, Foucault’s surveillance and power theories and Kenneth Waltz’s structural realism, this article analyses the impact of surveillance technologies on the strategic behaviour of states, the security crisis, and regional power dynamics. The USA, Iran and other Middle Eastern states – Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE – are investing more and more in AI-powered surveillance for national security, rival tracking and internal opposition suppression. This technocratic arms race not only increases regional instability, it also increases the distrust between states and erodes stability in the Middle East. The study points to surveillance as both a weapon of state authority and an agent of insecurity that feeds the vicious circle of competition and technological innovation that undermines the region’s politics.

Keywords.  Ai Powered, Surveillance, Usa, Iran, Consequences, Eastern