Nearly 19,000 people lose their lives annually in Iran due to road accidents. Despite the high potential of artificial intelligence to reduce these fatalities, the country lacks a coherent national strategy. This study aims to formulate and prioritize a national strategy for AI implementation in road safety in Iran using an integrated SWOT-AHP approach. A mixed-methods design was adopted. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with 20 experts and analyzed using thematic analysis in MAXQDA. Quantitative data were gathered via a questionnaire administered to 50 specialists and analyzed using SPSS. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to quantitatively prioritize the challenges. The findings identified the most critical challenges in order of priority as: lack of coordination among responsible agencies 4.7, shortage of standardized data (4.6), financial resource constraints 4.5, and sanctions 4.4. SWOT analysis revealed that Iran's main strengths are the scientific capacity of universities and skilled human resources, while the most important opportunity is leveraging the experiences of similar countries (India and Turkey). The national strategy was developed across three time horizons: short-term (establishing a national database, forming the Supreme Council for Intelligent Transportation, pilot implementation in Alborz and Isfahan provinces), medium-term (expansion to five metropolises, drafting supportive legislation, developing a national decision-support system), and long-term (nationwide integration, development of connected vehicles, regional cooperation).