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


People ride scooters on a street with Burj Khalifa in the background, after an Iranian attack, following United States and Israel strikes on Iran, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 1, 2026. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky

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 placesto do business in an unreliable neighbourhood.

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