A plume of smoke rises from the port of Jebel Ali following a reported Iranian strike in Dubai on March 1, 2026.
Fadel Senna | Afp | Getty Pictures
A minimum of 11 international locations have come beneath assault from Iran in retaliation for ongoing U.S. and Israeli moves, however no nation, instead of Israel, has been hit tougher than the Emirates.
The UAE says it has intercepted over 90% of incoming missile and drone threats from Iran. As of March 12, the thirteenth day of the conflict, professional tallies from the UAE’s Ministry of Protection display air defenses intercepted 268 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,514 drones, with six fatalities and 131 accidents reported.
The volume of firepower being despatched to the Emirates is considerably upper than that of its Gulf neighbors and virtually up to Israel, which has confronted greater than 1,000 missiles and drones within the ultimate two weeks from Iran. Moves on neighboring Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain all stay within the masses.
In spite of the interceptions, Iran’s moves have considerably impacted lifestyles around the Emirates. Citizens in Dubai and Abu Dhabi incessantly pay attention loud explosions overhead because of day by day interceptions, and missile alarms ring out on telephones in any respect hours.
Airports in each Dubai and Abu Dhabi, residential constructions, resorts in each Emirates, Dubai’s World Monetary Heart, Jebel Ali Port and the U.S. consulate in Dubai have all been centered, regardless of the Iranian executive telling CNBC its assaults on Gulf neighbors are restricted to U.S. bases within the area.
An Emirates Boeing 777 airplane prepares for touchdown as a smoke plume rises from an ongoing fireplace close to Dubai World Airport in Dubai on March 16, 2026.
– | Afp | Getty Pictures
For Iran, the UAE is a primary location the place moves can concurrently power Washington, disrupt world power flows, unsettle global finance and corporates, and generate international consideration.
Iran can inflict most regional and world ache, trying out a state that has located itself because the Gulf’s most secure bridge between East and West, and the way forward for the area for finance, logistics, aviation and era.
Strategic alliance
The UAE used to be probably the most first puts U.S. President Donald Trump visited in his 2nd time period ultimate Might all through a go back and forth to the Gulf states.
The U.S. had already designated the rustic as a significant protection spouse in 2024, deepening coordination on no longer most effective protection but in addition synthetic intelligence era and funding. The partnership leaves little question about the place the UAE stands with regards to regional safety.
On March 7, the Al Dhafra Air Base used to be centered through Iranian drone and missile moves.
The bottom, positioned round 32 km (20 miles) south of the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, hosts The usa’s 380th Air Expeditionary Wing along French forces. It serves as a key regional hub for air operations and intelligence collecting, and is house to a few 3,500 U.S. troops.
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“There is no good answer as (to) why the UAE had been targeted more heavily than any other country in the neighborhood,” Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati educational and political scientist, advised CNBC on Sunday.
The true tale, he added, is “how well the UAE managed to defend itself against these daily missiles and drones going into its third week, it seems the country has been preparing itself for this kind of attack all along.”
The Iranian regime claimed they have been concentrated on most effective U.S. bases within the area, ahead of they started hitting civilian infrastructure and U.S. monetary establishments within the area.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has demanded the closure of U.S. bases within the Gulf. Iran’s new splendid chief, Mojtaba Khamenei, has additionally stated those bases will have to be closed or they are going to be “attacked.”
‘No admire for development’
The UAE has lengthy prided itself on being a country of tolerance.
Whilst many locals are deeply non secular, they welcome foreigners with open hands. About 90% of the rustic’s just about 11 million citizens are expats.
The UAE’s recognition of being open, prosperous, and socially versatile through regional requirements is extra revolutionary than a lot of its neighbors, together with Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the place alcohol is banned and ladies’s clothes remains to be a subject matter of serious worry.
“This is the global business hub, it’s a reflection of what life should be, and what success should be, what prosperity should be, what positivity should be, it’s this place,” Mohamed Alabbar, founding father of Emaar Houses, advised CNBC’s Dan Murphy in Dubai when requested why the UAE has been this type of goal for Iranian moves.
In spite of executive efforts to care for a way of “business as usual,” a number of primary global banks pulled workers from their Dubai workplaces this week, as Iran stated it will goal financial facilities and U.S.-linked monetary establishments around the Heart East.
Two consecutive moves from Iran ultimate week centered Dubai’s World Monetary Heart. Dubai’s media administrative center showed the incidents however stated no accidents had took place.
Banks and American corporations primarily based within the monetary heart allowed their group of workers to work at home in the beginning of the conflict, however many have ordered it following ultimate week’s assaults. Each Abu Dhabi and Dubai are house to tech giants’ regional hubs, and plenty of are particularly named through Iran’s Islamic Modern Guard Corps as objectives, together with Alphabet’s Google, Oracle and IBM.
Power infrastructure
The UAE may be hoping to place itself as a significant hub for AI because the area seems to be to diversify its economic system clear of oil. Questions had been raised concerning the beauty of the area as a location for Giant Tech investments after Iran centered an Amazon information heart within the nation, disrupting cloud services and products.
Abu Dhabi Nationwide Oil Corporate’s Ruwais refinery, the biggest within the Heart East, used to be close as a precaution after a drone strike brought about a fireplace, whilst operators in Fujairah quickly suspended some terminal process amid hostilities.
Iran is hoping to sow chaos over regional provide chains and with the efficient closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disrupt power exports from primary manufacturers within the Gulf.
The concentrated on of power infrastructure is not new. Abu Dhabi used to be centered through the Houthis in 2019, however this direct hit to Ruwais displays the Islamic Republic’s diversion from hitting objectives related only to the U.S.
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