Dubai’s picture as a protected tax-free haven shattered by Iranian revenge strikes | EUROtoday

The United Arab Emirates offered itself to foreigners for years as a sunny, protected, tax-free oasis.

But that peaceable picture was shattered Saturday as Iranian weaponry rained down on Dubai, setting hearth to a five-star resort, threatening the world’s tallest constructing, and killing one particular person and injuring seven others on the airport within the capital metropolis of Abu Dhabi.

Iran hit the UAE and a number of other of its neighbors because it strikes again from the main assault by U.S. and Israeli forces, inflicting concern and chaos in a spot that till Saturday was predictably calm.

“This is Dubai’s ultimate nightmare, as its very essence depended on being a safe oasis in a troubled region,” Cinzia Bianco, an skilled on the Persian Gulf on the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote on X.

“There might be a way to be resilient, but there is no going back.”

Officials tried to reassure residents and guests that the nation’s air protection system was among the many finest on the planet, blasting down drones and missiles.

“I know it’s a scary time for a lot of the residents,” Reem Al Hashimy, minister of state for worldwide cooperation, informed CNN. “We don’t hear these types of loud sounds. But at the same time, those are sounds of interception. And where there has been damage — that has been primarily debris.”

Fallout from the assaults has undermined the Emirates’ efforts to de-escalate tensions with Iran regardless of longtime suspicions of its neighbor throughout the Gulf. The UAE closed its embassy in Tehran on Sunday.

The oil-rich federation of seven sheikhdoms has relied on its picture as a spot of serenity to lure rich vacationers, businesspeople and future residents who need to stay largely tax-free in luxurious within the desert by the ocean. Nearly 90% of the estimated 11 million residents are foreigners.

Real property companies promote glimmering high-rises and poolside villas to wealthy Europeans and Americans by selling a welcoming local weather and business-friendly insurance policies, and touting it as one of many most secure locations on earth.

Hundreds of drone and missile assaults later, although, that repute has been rocked.

“Last night time was fairly surreal,” said British racehorse trainer Jamie Osborne, who was in Dubai for the Emirates Super Saturday. “You’re standing in the paddock watching missiles get shot through the sky.”

The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that air defenses had dealt with 165 ballistic missiles, two cruise missiles and more than 540 Iranian drones over two days.

While officials said they intercepted all air attacks Saturday, debris from the knocked-down weapons sparked blazes at some of Dubai’s most iconic locations.

Social media videos and photos showed a fire outside the Fairmont hotel on the prestigious man-made Palm Jumeirah island, flames licked at the facade of the famous Burj Al Arab hotel, and smoke rose into the sky near Burj Khalifa, the 2,723-foot (830-meter) skyscraper.

There also was a fire at Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port, the city’s main sea terminal and a major shipping hub, and the Dubai International Airport was damaged and four employees were injured, according to the Dubai Media Office.

Kristy Ellmer, who was on a business trip from New Hampshire, said she was staying away from the windows of her hotel but felt relatively safe despite the numerous blasts.

“You hear a lot of explosions at times, you know, there’s hundreds of them,” she stated. “It’s unsettling. We’re not used to listening to bombs, proper, or missiles.”

Louise Herrle, an American vacationer whose flight residence together with her husband from Dubai was scrapped, stated it was her third time attempting to go to the realm. Previous journeys had been canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Hamas assault on Israel in October 2023.

With their present Abu Dhabi and Dubai tour over, she is much less more likely to return to the Emirates or the area.

“I would probably be inclined to avoid this part of the world when there’s increased tensions, it just explodes so quickly,” Herrle said.

Maybe, she said, “the universe was trying to tell us something.”