Dubai’s image as a safe, tax-free haven is rocked by blasts from Iranian airstrikes

The United Arab Emirates has sold itself to foreigners for years as a sunny, safe, tax-free oasis.

That peaceful image was shattered Saturday as Iranian weaponry rained down on Dubai, setting fire to a five-star resort, threatening the world’s tallest building, and killing one person and injuring seven others at the airport in the capital city of Abu Dhabi.

Iran has hit the UAE and several of its neighbors as it strikes back from the major attack by U.S. and Israeli forces, causing fear and chaos in a place that until 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 expert on the Persian Gulf at 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 visitors that the country’s air defense system was among the best in the world, 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 international cooperation, told 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 attacks has undermined the Emirates’ efforts to de-escalate tensions with Iran despite longtime suspicions of its neighbor across the Gulf. The UAE closed its airspace Saturday, shuttered its embassy in Tehran on Sunday, and withdrew its diplomats because of the attacks.

“This decision reflects its firm and unwavering position against any aggression that threatens its security and sovereignty,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It called the attacks an “aggressive and provocative approach” that threatens the region.

The oil-rich federation of seven sheikhdoms has relied on its image as a place of serenity to lure wealthy tourists, businesspeople and future residents who want to live largely tax-free in luxury in the desert by the sea. Nearly 90% of the estimated 11 million residents are foreigners.

Real estate firms sell glimmering high-rises and poolside villas to rich Europeans and Americans by promoting a welcoming climate and business-friendly policies, and touting it as one of the safest places on earth.

Hundreds of drone and missile attacks later, though, that reputation has been rocked.

“Last night was pretty 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 said. “It’s unsettling. We’re not used to hearing bombs, right, or missiles.”

Louise Herrle, an American tourist whose flight home with her husband from Dubai was scrapped, said it was her third time trying to visit the area. Previous trips were canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.

With their current Abu Dhabi and Dubai tour over, she is less likely to return to the Emirates or the region.

“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.”

Associated Press journalists Julie Walker in New York and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.