Aramco IPO Proceeds To Fund Saudi Defense Projects

Saudi Arabia will use part of the money raised through Aramco’s initial public offering to strengthen its defense capabilities, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan told Reuters in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The minister told Reuters the Kingdom was making an effort to defuse the tension between the United States and Iran, which spiked after the U.S. assassination of a top Iranian general, and led to a retaliation against military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq. “If you look at history, we in this region…