Iran - Israel/US War: Israel-US declare war on Iran, Iran responds

How Dubai's safe-haven status is being put to the test​

By Hadeel Al Sayegh, Rachna Uppal and Federico Maccioni
March 2, 2026

DUBAI/ABU DHABI, March 2 (Reuters) - For decades, Dubai's sales pitch featured gleaming skylines, tax-free salaries, ease of doing business and something far more intangible: the unspoken promise that whatever was happening elsewhere in the Middle East, this city was different. The conflicts that destabilised the region would somehow stop at Dubai's borders.

On Saturday, that all changed. Iran's retaliatory strikes across the Gulf hit across Dubai's key sectors, landing on airports, hotels and ports.

They also hit the psychological foundations of a city that had spent four decades constructing that identity ‌as one of the world's most reliable places to do business in an unreliable neighbourhood.
 
WHAT SATURDAY CHANGED

But vulnerabilities have remained. The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne crude oil passes, runs through Dubai's backyard. Iran, a country with both the motive and the capability to destabilise Gulf commerce, sits directly across the water.

The physical damage over the weekend was stark. Dubai International Airport was hit, a berth at Jebel Ali Port caught fire and the Burj Al Arab sustained damage from interceptor fragments. Three people were killed and 58 injured, according to the UAE Ministry of Defence.

"People are afraid of what's happening. It's the first time they ⁠have to hide in underground places. Dubai airport, one of the biggest in the world, has to shut down for a few days," said Nabil Milali, multi-asset portfolio manager at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management. He reduced the firm's exposure to stocks globally last week to prepare for the possibility of an attack on Iran.
"There's a 70% probability we will keep a geopolitical risk premia (on the region) for a long time."

A source at a UAE-based mid-sized investment firm said their company had begun preemptively planning layoffs and halted fundraising. Demand for gold bars surged, a jewelry industry source said. International private banks, which had been expanding advisory ⁠operations in the emirate, may also reassess the scope of their presence, according to a private banker.

Firms may begin to rethink serving clients locally versus from another location, the banker said.

"Historically, markets like the UAE have demonstrated resilience d
uring crises, including COVID, supported by strong policy response and governance," said Madhur Kakkar, founder and CEO of Elevate Financial Services.

"At this stage, a broad structural reallocation of institutional capital away from the UAE or the wider Gulf appears unlikely unless tensions escalate materially or persist for an extended period."

There is no data yet on capital outflows. The ⁠suspension of trading on the Abu Dhabi and Dubai stock exchanges on March 2 and 3 marks an unprecedented step for UAE regulators.
 
We Pakistanis should help our Iranian brothers with Missile Technology.
Sir jee, we need it from them for ourselves.

just think for once if we had following equipment things would have been far far different in 2025

Fath TBM (180km/150kg/Mach 3-4/CEP <15m (if bediou applied) 6 x TBM/1 x TEL
Raad 500/Zohair TBM (500km/320kg/MaRV/Mach 4-5/CEP <30m (if bediou applied) 3 x TBM/1 x TEL

HESA Shahed 136 P2
HESA Shahed 238

list is long - we really lacked in Tactical Aero ballistic missile department.
 

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