Residents told CNBC that evacuation alerts and sky flashes, as drones are shot down by air defenses, are disrupting social gatherings and the day-to-day operations, yet a large portion of life proceeds at a normal pace, as tensions hang over Dubai.
Iran has deployed drones and missiles to neighbouring countries in the Middle East after U.S.-Israel attacks on it that started on February 28. Tehran has also attacked military bases of the United States of America in the region, oil and gas production facilities, and civilian infrastructure.
The United Arab Emirates and numerous other nations have mobilised air defenses as the attacks were still going on in the second week of the conflict, and rushed to reassure citizens and international investors, whom the country has been courting over the years.
But Dubai Police has warned citizens that “photographing or sharing security or critical sites, or reposting unreliable information may result in legal action and compromise national security and stability.”
According to Detained In Dubai, which assists individuals trapped by strict local legislation, 21 individuals have been accused of social media posts related to Iranian strikes.
Most expatriates have been scrambling to get out of the region following the outbreak of the war, but others have opted to remain in the area, and some of them were interviewed by CNBC.
Ever since the war, the five-star Fairmont The Palm Hotel in Dubai has been hit, and debris dropped by a downed drone of Iran set fire to the Burj Al Arab hotel. A missile strike on the airport in Dubai was also damaged, and on Tuesday, the U.S. Consulate in Dubai was targeted by what appeared to be a drone strike that set fire in the area.
Attacks on AWS data centers in the country caused outages in banking, payments, enterprise, and consumer services last week.
“Living in Dubai right now is a strange mix of normality and quiet tension,” Glen Pawson, managing partner of marketing agency M3, who moved to the city in 2025, told CNBC.
He said, “It’s surprisingly easy to get absorbed in the rhythm of day-to-day life and almost forget the wider situation.”
He added, “Then something reminds you. For us, it’s usually the phone alerts telling people to take shelter.”
Pawson indicated that on some occasions, he has seen air defense countermeasures blowing into the air. He stated, “Seeing the flashes in the distance and, in some cases, the debris burning as it falls back to earth, is surreal.”
He reported that businesses are still operating, people are still socialising, and the general atmosphere is one of “cautious awareness” as opposed to “panic.”
Pawson said to CNBC, “The reality on the ground is that life feels both completely normal and completely abnormal at the same time. You can go from a routine day to watching defence systems light up the sky in the space of a few minutes.”
Harley McGaughran has lived in Dubai for two years, having previously been in London, and owns a luxury personal shopping business. He said he’s “never felt safer.”
McGaughran added, “Footfall in our physical shop has slowed, but online enquiries and personal messages have been steady,” he told CNBC. Dubai is quieter; restaurants and beach clubs are less busy, but “life goes on if you operate a business and call the UAE home.”
He said that, on March 6, “We received a government alert to evacuate while at a restaurant, which was handled efficiently and without panic; the venue was still reasonably busy.”
The situation in Dubai is “functioning but tense”, said Nick Rowles-Davies, a lawyer who moved to Dubai in 2022, having previously lived in London.
He informed CNBC, there is “visible vigilance in some areas, particularly at night when interceptions have been audible,” he told CNBC. “It is not panic, but there is a clear recognition that this is no longer distant geopolitics.”
Although the government tried to create an image of business as usual, several key international banks withdrew staff based in their Dubai offices on Wednesday, following an announcement by Iran that it would attack the economic hubs and U.S.-related financial institutions in the Middle East.
The International Financial Center of Dubai is silent, since two strikes have been launched by Iran this week against the region. The media office of Dubai affirmed the incidents, but there were no injuries reported.
Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Standard Chartered regional hubs instructed their employees to work at home. The financial center’s iconic ICD Brookfield building, a skyscraper designed by Foster + Partners and home to BlackRock, Bank of America, JPMorgan, EY, and BNP Paribas, is usually bustling with bankers but is currently empty.
