The latest
Dubai built its global reputation as a haven untouched by the region’s wars. That image cracked when the emirate found itself on the front lines of the Iran war, and the recovery is proving slow. Jebel Ali port, once the backbone of Dubai’s rise from a modest coastal town to a global business hub, handled 40,000 shipping containers a day before the war. Now it’s down to about 1,000, and port officials say restoring prewar traffic will take at least a month. A ceasefire has held and U.S.-Iran talks are underway to make it permanent, but regional analysts say Dubai’s full recovery is still far off.
Details
• Abdullah Alajaji, CEO of real estate brokerage Driven Properties, said: “People are watching to see if this is lasting, will it stick? We’re expecting continued volatility.”
• The property market, which hit record highs before the war, has nearly stalled — transactions are down 80%, institutional investors have pulled money out, and some prices have dropped 10% to 15%.
• More than 700 employees — about 10% of staff — were laid off at the Atlantis resort on Palm Jumeirah during the war, a person familiar with the decision said. The hotel didn’t respond to a request for comment.
• Occupancy at the Fairmont Palm, whose entrance was damaged in an Iranian drone strike on the war’s first day, has fallen below 40%, compared with the usual 60% to 70% for the summer off-season, the hotel’s manager said.
• With Jebel Ali shut down, the smaller ports of Khor Fakkan and Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman coast became an unexpected lifeline, with truck traffic backing up on nearby highways.
• Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed bin Butti Al Hamed, head of Dubai’s Media Office, said whoever thought they could “strangle” the UAE’s economy “was ignorant of its very nature.”
• The UAE’s sovereign wealth funds, which manage more than $1.8 trillion in assets, give Dubai a cushion to avoid external borrowing, prop up local businesses and inject liquidity into the economy.
What to watch
How long the U.S.-Iran ceasefire holds will shape the pace of Dubai’s rebound. The government is betting on expanded alternative ports and new stimulus programs to speed things along. Dubai has bounced back from setbacks before — the 2008 crash, the pandemic — and officials are wagering history repeats itself.
