“Where on earth are they going?” I wondered. We had dismissed the well-intended advice of an acquaintance to drive for more than two hours to Oman — a theoretical safe haven, until it was targeted by Iranian strikes the following morning.
On Sunday, Dubai’s usually choked highways were empty as ominous blasts continued to echo throughout the city.
Buzzy Kite Beach — which had been bustling with bulked-up joggers before the conflict erupted — emptied the following day. Any unexpected noise drew panicked reactions from the few beach-goers who continued to order avocado toasts.
Despite the unease, the legions of people who deliver food on tiny mopeds never stopped working and continued to supply the homebound population. They reminded me of the nurses and doctors who kept the medical system afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It’s too early to tell whether Iran’s attack will permanently damage Dubai’s image as a safe and trendy melting pot.
“Iran did not strike a military base in Dubai. It struck the idea of Dubai,” the analyst and author Shanaka Anslem Perera wrote on X. “Dubai is a financial thesis. It is the proposition that you can build a global city at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and insulate it from the region’s violence.”
But as in every crisis, Dubai’s sharky financiers, at least, see an opportunity.
“It’s the right time to buy property, prices will massively go down after the attacks,” a young consultant enthused to me as I tried to blink away the sleepless night.