Executive Summary
As the United States fights a war in Iran it launched without a congressional declaration, public filings and investigative reports raise questions about financial interests held by senior figures involved in the decision to go to war. According to the Associated Press and Washington Post, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. hold stakes in Powerus, a drone company now pitching defence contracts to Gulf states under Iranian attack. The Financial Times reported that Trump Jr.-backed companies received over $735 million in Pentagon contracts since his father took office. The Senate Finance Committee estimates Kushner earns $25 million annually from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. According to an investigation by Popular Information, citing public filings, corroborated by CNN reporting, Steve Witkoff co-founded a crypto firm that received $250 million from the UAE, with $187 million reportedly directed to Trump family entities. No public evidence confirms these financial ties influenced specific policy decisions. The available record, however, raises questions that no independent investigation has yet examined.
- REPORTED: Powerus, backed by Eric and Donald Trump Jr., is conducting drone sales demonstrations across Gulf states under Iranian attack, reported by AP and Washington Post on April 2, 2026.
- DOCUMENTED: Vulcan Elements, backed by Trump Jr.'s 1789 Capital, received a $620 million Pentagon loan, the largest in Pentagon Office of Strategic Capital history, per Financial Times and US Senate records.
- DOCUMENTED: Kushner's Affinity Partners received a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, per Senate Finance Committee filings. Estimated annual fee: $25 million.
- REPORTED: The UAE is reported to have invested $200 million in Affinity Partners and directed $187 million to Trump family entities through World Liberty Financial, according to Popular Information, citing public crypto disclosures.
- REPORTED: CNN reported that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are said to have lobbied the Trump administration to strike Iran. Both governments have significant financial ties to Kushner and Witkoff.
- ANALYSIS: US Senator Jack Reed formally questioned whether the $20 billion+ in emergency Gulf arms deals, bypassing Congress, should be scrutinised given the Kushner and Witkoff financial relationships with recipient states.
The Sons: Drones, Contracts, and a Convenient War
On April 2, 2026, the same day Trump declared the Iran war nearly won, the Associated Press and Washington Post both published an investigation into Powerus, a Florida-based drone company backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The company announced their involvement last month and is now making sales pitches to Gulf states that are under Iranian attack and dependent on the US military led by their father. Powerus co-founder Brett Velicovich confirmed the company is conducting drone demonstrations across multiple Middle East countries right now. He declined to name which ones.
REPORTED: According to the Financial Times, Donald Trump Jr. joined Unusual Machines, a drone parts startup, as an adviser in November 2024, shortly after the election, despite no disclosed prior experience in drones or military contracting. The company received a Pentagon contract to manufacture 3,500 drone motors in the months that followed. In December 2025, Vulcan Elements, backed by 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm where Trump Jr. is a partner, received a $620 million loan from the Pentagon, the largest in the entire history of the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital, reported by the Financial Times. Vulcan had approximately 30 employees at the time of the award. The Financial Times' own analysis found that at least four companies in the 1789 Capital portfolio won Trump administration contracts totalling over $735 million.
ANALYSIS: Republican lawmakers blocked a Democratic attempt in March 2026 to subpoena Trump Jr. to testify about these contracts, according to Common Dreams and CNBC. The committee chairman called a recess immediately after the subpoena motion was raised. No independent investigation has proceeded. The companies and Trump Jr. deny any direct connection between his involvement and the contract awards. What the public record does show, without interpretation, is a sequence of events: Trump Jr. helped screen Pentagon job candidates after the election, telling his own podcast he looked for people who wanted to spend more on drones; those candidates were appointed; the appointed officials oversaw the contracting process; the contracts went to companies in which Trump Jr. holds equity stakes. Whether that sequence constitutes improper influence is a legal and ethical question no formal body has yet examined.
Kushner: Negotiating for America While Banking on Arabia
REPORTED: Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, was one of the two lead US negotiators with Iran before the war began. He sat across the table from Iranian diplomats in Geneva on February 26, 2026, two days before the strikes started. DOCUMENTED: He was simultaneously the head of Affinity Partners, a private equity firm whose largest investor is Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which invested $2 billion in 2021, according to Senate Finance Committee records. The Senate Finance Committee estimates Kushner earns $25 million per year in management fees from that Saudi investment alone, totalling a projected $137 million by August 2026.
REPORTED: The UAE is reported to have invested approximately $200 million in Affinity Partners through various channels, including Lunate, an Abu Dhabi investment firm tied to UAE sovereign wealth funds, according to Popular Information, citing public filings. CNN reported that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are said to have privately lobbied the Trump administration to strike Iran in the weeks before the war began. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is reported to have personally urged Trump to act, according to multiple outlets including CNN and Popular Information, though the specific content of those conversations has not been independently confirmed. Iran is the primary regional rival of both states. The overlap between who lobbied for the war and who funds Kushner's firm is a matter of public record. Whether those two facts are connected is not established by available evidence. Kushner addressed the tension directly in an October 2025 interview on 60 Minutes: "What people call conflicts of interests, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships," he said.
ANALYSIS: The White House has not required Kushner to file financial disclosure documents, according to NBC News. No independent mechanism exists to determine whether his assessment of the Geneva talks was shaped by diplomatic judgment or by financial relationships with the states that wanted the talks to fail.
Witkoff: The Crypto Conflict Nobody Is Talking About
DOCUMENTED: Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East special envoy and the other lead Iran negotiator, co-founded World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm in which he retains an eight-figure stake, according to public disclosures reviewed by Popular Information and CNN. The UAE's Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the country's national security adviser and head of its largest sovereign wealth fund, purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial days before Trump's inauguration. According to Popular Information's analysis of public crypto filings, of the $250 million paid upfront by UAE-linked entities, approximately $187 million was directed to Trump family entities and $31 million to the Witkoff family.
REPORTED: In May 2025, MGX, a company controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon, is reported to have purchased an additional $2 billion of crypto tokens from the same firm. Critics argue the pattern raises serious questions about whether the UAE's financial relationship with Witkoff and the Trump family compromised American negotiating integrity. Supporters of Witkoff counter that his Gulf relationships gave him direct access and credibility with regional decision-makers that career diplomats lack. The White House has not commented directly on the crypto firm payments. No public evidence indicates that Witkoff was instructed by UAE interests in the negotiating room. What available records do document, however, is the sequence: the UAE paid hundreds of millions to Witkoff and Trump family entities, the UAE lobbied for the war, Witkoff reported the talks had failed, and military action followed shortly after, according to reported timelines.
The Arms Deals: Who Got $20 Billion and Why It Matters
DOCUMENTED: Using emergency wartime powers that bypass the normal congressional notification process, the Trump administration approved over $20 billion in weapons sales to Gulf states in March 2026, according to the office of US Senator Jack Reed. The UAE is among the recipients, receiving Chinook helicopters, Patriot missile systems, drones, air-to-air missiles, advanced missile defence radar, and F-16 upgrades, as reported by the New York Times. Senator Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, raised a formal written objection, noting that the UAE has documented financial ties to both Kushner and Witkoff.
ANALYSIS: Critics, including Senator Reed and ethics lawyers cited by the Financial Times, argue that the overlapping financial relationships raise legitimate questions about whether policy decisions are being made in the national interest or in the interest of the families involved. Defenders of the administration argue that Gulf states have long-standing security relationships with the US that predate any Trump family business ties, and that the arms sales reflect genuine regional defence needs during an active war. Both positions are represented in the congressional record. Available public filings show a significant overlap between who holds financial stakes in Gulf state relationships and who shaped the diplomatic and military decisions under examination. No independent investigation has established a causal link.
How the War Started: Questions the Geneva Talks Left Unanswered
This is the part that has received the least attention and may be the most consequential. According to the Arms Control Association, which obtained recordings and transcripts from the Geneva talks, Witkoff and Kushner appear to have significantly misread Iran's nuclear negotiating position when briefing Trump. Witkoff claimed Iran was using its Tehran Research Reactor, a civilian medical isotope facility that the United States itself built and provided to Iran in 1967, as cover to stockpile weapons-grade uranium. Multiple nuclear experts told NBC News and the Arms Control Association that this assessment contained serious technical errors. The IAEA's own records do not support Witkoff's characterisation of the reactor. Witkoff defended himself in a radio interview, saying: "I wouldn't tell you I'm an expert in nuclear, but I've learned quite a bit, and I'm competent to sit at the table and discuss it." Independent experts who reviewed the same briefing transcripts disagreed with that self-assessment.
REPORTED: Oman's Foreign Minister, who mediated the talks and was physically present in the room, flew urgently to Washington after the final session to brief the White House that Iran had made concessions exceeding the 2015 nuclear deal, according to reporting by NBC News and the Arms Control Association. He was not asked to stay. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later wrote publicly: "When complex nuclear negotiations are treated like a real estate transaction, and when big lies cloud realities, unrealistic expectations can never be met. The outcome? Bombing the negotiation table out of spite."
REPORTED: Witkoff and Kushner reported to Trump that the talks had failed. Military action followed shortly after, according to reported timelines. Iran has since declined to negotiate with either of them and has reportedly requested JD Vance as a replacement envoy, according to multiple outlets. Iran's reasons for that request have not been publicly stated in detail. Analysts cited by Foreign Policy and the Arms Control Association suggest it indicates Tehran's view that the two negotiators were not acting as neutral intermediaries, though this interpretation is disputed by the administration.
Editorial View · Santhosh Vishwamitra
The Questions the Evidence Raises, and the Ones It Cannot Answer
I want to be precise about what this evidence shows and what it does not. No court has found the Trump family guilty of corruption in relation to the Iran war. The companies involved deny that political connections influenced contract awards. Kushner and Witkoff maintain that their Gulf relationships made them more effective diplomats, not compromised ones. These are not frivolous defences. Proximity to foreign governments has genuinely helped American diplomats before, and the presence of financial ties does not automatically mean those ties drove a decision.
That said, the standard for public concern is not a criminal conviction. It is whether the documented overlap between financial interest and policy decision is significant enough to warrant scrutiny. Available records show that the lead Iran negotiators held hundreds of millions in financial stakes with the governments that lobbied hardest for this war. The president's sons were invested in defence companies before the war and are pitching those companies to war-affected customers now. The Pentagon's largest loan in institutional history went to a 30-employee startup backed by the president's son. Inside Stories cannot independently verify whether these financial relationships influenced specific decisions. What the public record does make clear is that the overlap exists, is substantial, and has not been subject to any independent investigation.
The hardest question is not about money. It is about accountability. According to Iranian health authorities, a US missile strike on Minab on February 28 destroyed a naval base adjacent to a girls' school, reportedly killing students, according to Iranian authorities and BBC Verify analysis. BBC Verify's independent analysis of strike coordinates placed the impact near a known educational facility. The strike has not been publicly acknowledged or explained by the Pentagon. If the stated objective of this war is to hold Iran accountable for decades of regional harm, the question of who holds the United States accountable for Minab deserves the same seriousness.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The lead Iran negotiators held hundreds of millions in financial ties to the countries that wanted this war. The president's sons were invested in drone companies before it started and are pitching to war-affected customers now. The Pentagon's largest loan ever went to a 30-employee firm backed by the president's son. Whether the war was justified is a legitimate debate. Whether it has been financially convenient for a specific group of people is strongly suggested by the available public records. No independent investigation has determined whether these overlaps influenced policy decisions.
Santhosh Vishwamitra
Web Developer and Founder of Inside Stories - Where Global Politics Meets Perspective. Specializing in objective geopolitical analysis, I break down complex global conflicts without mainstream bias, and delivering verified facts with unvarnished truth.
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