Three weeks into the war on Iran, the administration’s stated objectives keep shifting like sand in a Persian Gulf wind. First it was about preventing a nuclear weapon. Then it was regime change.
Then it wasn’t regime change. Then Trump posted about “MIGA” on social media. Through all the confusion, one thing has become strikingly, almost offensively clear: the people who pushed hardest for this war are the same people making the most money from it.
Let’s follow the money.
Kushner: The $5 Billion Man
The New York Times reported last week that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and self-appointed “peace envoy,” is actively seeking $5 billion or more for his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, from the very same Gulf states whose leaders lobbied Trump to attack Iran. His representatives have already met with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which previously poured $2 billion into Kushner’s fund in 2021, a deal Saudi investment advisors reportedly rejected before MBS personally overruled them.
Let that sink in. The man who helped convince the president to launch the largest U.S. military operation since the 2003 invasion of Iraq is simultaneously soliciting billions from the governments that wanted this war most. Every year, Saudi Arabia pays Kushner $25 million in management fees on its $2 billion investment. He has collected more than $100 million from the Saudi government since leaving the White House in 2021. Affinity Partners also received more than $200 million from the UAE, which was also lobbying Trump behind the scenes to strike Iran.
Thom Hartmann made these points on his show yesterday:
Trump himself confirmed that Kushner was among the advisers who convinced him to launch the strikes. At a press conference, Trump said the decision was based on what “Steve and Jared and Pete and others were telling me.” That’s Steve Witkoff, Kushner, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The claim that Iran was preparing an imminent attack on the United States, the justification Trump took away from those conversations, was directly contradicted by U.S. intelligence agencies, according to ABC News.
Senator Ron Wyden and Congressman Jamie Raskin have called for an investigation into whether Kushner is acting as an unregistered foreign agent in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Their letter called the situation “deeply disturbing,” noting that Kushner appears to be influencing U.S. foreign policy while accepting money from the governments pushing for that policy. They’ve called for a special counsel.
Kushner, who pledged in December 2024 that his firm had “preemptively” raised enough capital to “avoid any conflicts” during the second Trump term, apparently forgot that promise the moment the bombs started falling.
The Trump Sons And The Drone Gold Rush
While Kushner works the Gulf sovereign wealth circuit, Don Jr. and Eric Trump are cashing in on the Pentagon side. The president’s two eldest sons are invested in Powerus, a drone startup that is merging with a Florida golf course holding company to create a publicly traded drone business. The company raised $60 million from investors and plans to scale production to more than 10,000 drones per month.
The timing is remarkable. The Pentagon’s Drone Dominance program has earmarked $1.1 billion to buy hundreds of thousands of American-made drone systems by 2027, a spending surge created in part by the administration’s own ban on importing Chinese drones. Don Jr. also sits on the advisory board of Unusual Machines, a drone component company that received a Pentagon contract for 3,500 drone motors. Forbes reported that Trump Jr. was given shares worth millions. Another startup backed by 1789 Capital, where Don Jr. is a partner, received a $620 million loan from the Defense Department.
Days after the war began, Eric Trump posted on X: “Drones are the wave of the future.” The Pentagon confirmed that the Iran conflict marks the first time the U.S. has used one-way attack drones in combat. Ethics watchdog Project on Government Oversight said these deals “at a minimum present the appearance of impropriety.”
Russia: The Biggest Winner Nobody Is Talking About
If you want to understand who is truly winning this war, look at Moscow. Russia has earned nearly $7 billion in additional fossil fuel revenues in just two weeks of fighting, according to analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. That’s $588 million per day, enough to purchase 17,000 Shahed drones every 24 hours at a cost of $35,000 each.
Before the Iran war, Russia’s energy sector was in serious trouble. Oil and gas revenues had fallen from 45% of the federal budget in 2021 to around 20% in 2025. Russia’s Urals crude had plunged to $40 per barrel under the weight of Western sanctions. Then the bombs started falling on Tehran, Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz, and everything changed. Oil prices spiked above $100 a barrel. Russia’s cargoes began selling at around $90 per barrel, nearly double the pre-war price.
To make matters worse, the Trump administration responded to rising gas prices by granting India a temporary waiver to buy Russian oil that was already sitting in tankers, the first major relaxation of Russian sanctions since they were imposed over the Ukraine invasion. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it a “stopgap measure.” Critics called it a gift to Putin.
As Bloomberg put it, Russia is the “first big winner” of a war that sent oil prices above $100. Moscow had been struggling to fund its war in Ukraine. Now, analysts estimate Russia could generate tens of billions in additional revenue if prices remain elevated.
Saudi Arabia And The UAE Got What They Wanted
Saudi Arabia has been lobbying the United States to take down Iran since at least 2008. The UAE has pushed the same agenda since at least 2010. The Washington Post reported that MBS made “multiple private phone calls to Trump” in February, advocating for the attack. CNN reported that the UAE was lobbying the administration behind the scenes.
They got their wish. And the man who delivered it is now asking them for $5 billion.
The Losers
Thirteen American service members are dead. Approximately 140 more have been wounded. In Iran, at least 1,444 people have been killed, including 168 schoolgirls in a direct hit on a school. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed, oil prices are soaring, and the global economy is shuddering. The U.S. has spent billions already with no clear exit strategy. NBC News reported that military officials have presented off-ramps to Trump daily, and he has declined to take them.
Meanwhile, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is threatening to revoke broadcast licenses of any media outlet that reports unfavorably on the war, a move that drew bipartisan condemnation. Even Republican Senator Ron Johnson said he opposes “the heavy hand of government no matter who’s wielding it.” The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression called it “outrageous.”
The Question Congress Needs To Answer
The pattern is impossible to ignore. The same Gulf states that lobbied for this war are writing billion-dollar checks to the president’s son-in-law. The president’s sons are invested in drone companies competing for Pentagon contracts created by policies their father enacted. Russia, which benefits enormously from high oil prices, is now having its sanctions relaxed by the very administration that started the war.
When Republicans held their Benghazi hearings, four Americans had died. We got two years of public investigation. Thirteen Americans have now been killed in Iran. Where are the hearings? Where is the oversight?
At the very least, Congressional Democrats should be convening public, on-the-record hearings to investigate whether this war is being steered by financial interests in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Kushner’s investment firm rather than the national security interests of the American people. The Constitution puts Congress in charge of declaring war. Article One is clear. But it’s hard to invoke the Constitution when the people who should be enforcing it are too busy counting their returns.