Confronted with one of the worst military debacles in the history of the United States, President Donald Trump has begun blaming his entourage, naming Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and real estate moguls Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as the four men responsible for the decision.
But a closer look at the network behind Kushner and Witkoff points to a more seasoned operator working from the shadows: former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In an article in The New Republic “Trump Went to War With Iran Because Jared Kushner Is a Fool,” Edith Olmsted argues that both Witkoff and Kushner lack basic knowledge about nuclear energy, but they refused to include nuclear experts in their negotiations. “Several nuclear experts have raised questions about the disastrous duo’s technical understanding of uranium enrichment after they presented an assessment of Iran’s Research Reactor that made no sense,” writes TNR. The duo blamed Iran for stockpiling enriched uranium in a nuclear research reactor, a situation more out of a science-fiction novel than out of the real world.
Witkoff later acknowledged his preparation consisted of reading a couple of books.
The Blair connection runs deeper than mere incompetence. In March 2017, Kushner, who hasn’t an inkling of ideas about international relations, met several times with Tony Blair, who put himself forward as (unofficial) special advisor on Middle East Affairs. In 2007, Blair was nominated by George Bush to be the special “peace envoy” of the Quartet (U.S., Russia, EU, and UN). In that condition, Blair was received by all major actors in Southwest Asia. Blair used his vast address book to impose the “Abraham Accords” in an effort to “normalize” relations between Arab States and Israel. Blair personally secured the signing of these accords by the U.A.E. Even though only a few countries signed, Kushner considered it a great political success. As a by-product of Blair’s efforts, Kushner’s corporate interests worked out in September 2025 a $55 billion deal with the Saudi Investment Fund (SIF), the largest private buyout in history. According to Haaretz, Witkoff, who stupidly pushed for the strikes against Iran, considers Jared Kushner his rebbe (Yiddish term for master and teacher).
