
TrumpWorld isn’t the only sphere of influence courting the murky backwaters of Saudi Arabian industrialism.
Former President Barack Obama’s first National Security Advisor, General Jim Jones, has come under fire for his business dealings with the Saudi government. According to a report by The Daily Beast, Jones’ company, Jones Group International, worked alongside Saudi Arabia on two contracts related to “industrial matters” and “Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s military overhaul.”
“Ironhand Security had a contract with the Saudi government to provide advice on its military transformation efforts, a key component of the 2030 vision and reform agenda strongly supported by the United States,” a spokesperson for Iranhand Security, a subsidiary for Jones Group International, told The Daily Beast. “This was particularly important given the significance of the military-to-military relationship.”
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Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision intends to revolutionize the country’s infrastructure and industries over the next 12 years. Military contracts from company’s like Jones Group International have played instrumental roles in the ambitious modernization effort—$110 billion in arms packages were signed between American and Saudi companies during the first Saudi-U.S. CEO Forum in 2017.
Last month, Jones appeared at the Iran Uprising Summit in Midtown alongside President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani to promote regime change in Iran at the hands of the MEK (The People’s Mujahedeen of Iran), likening a ten point plan by the organization’s founder to “Jeffersonian principles that every freedom-loving member of the human race can embrace and every form of tyranny fears.”
According to an NBC News investigation, Saudi Arabia, alongside Israel and the United States, have “financed, trained and armed” the MEK in the past.