The Iran war has done little to slow the continuing march of progress for Dubai, the emirate's Economic Development Corporation chief executive Hadi Badri has told a leading forum in Washington.
“We’re open, the airport is functioning, we have 500 flights coming in and out of the city every day. It’s been a surreal moment, you know, a little bit unusual. And what makes it even more unusual is the fact that we've been going about our daily lives,” Mr Badri said.
He told the Semafor World Economy Summit that the city’s core infrastructure has held firm through recent challenges, and daily life has continued with little visible interruption.
“We haven’t had any disruption in terms of power, water, telecoms, banks … the things that you would expect to be in a good shape in Dubai continue to be in a very good shape in Dubai,” Mr Badri said. “Our leaders are going to the malls, engaging with people, demonstrating that, you know, things are safe.”
Domestic spending data, he said, showed activity was “only a few percentage points shy of where we were before February 28 and the start of the US-Israel war on Iran".
"It’s more psychological than anything much,” Mr Badri said. But people were "still in Dubai staying the course, investing, spending and living their daily lives”.
Despite the crisis, foreign direct investment remains a cornerstone of Dubai’s agenda. While declining to name companies, Mr Badri said several deals were moving forwards.
“We are actually looking to sign a few deals out of the US this quarter,” he said. "I had a very productive call this morning with my team to push one of [the deals]. And so, you know, I think they’re staying the course.”
While acknowledging some investors may pause, Mr Badri stressed the commitment of investing in 2026 and 2027 is very much there.
"We view this as a little bit of a speed bump, but Dubai has a track record of coming out of challenges, and we're very excited about what we can do going forward because this has been a forcing function for us to fix a few things that we wanted to fix,” he said.
Asked whether Dubai’s Iranian community, about half a million residents, would continue to be welcome in the emirate, Mr Badri was firm: “They're still there. They're still participating in the economy. They're still safe.
"The most important thing that we need to do as an economy is make sure that people are safe, whether they're residents or tourists. I mean, that's priority number one.”
The UAE has long established trade links with Iran. As of early 2026, bilateral trade between Iran and the UAE was estimated at $27 billion. The UAE is Iran's second-largest trading partner globally, following China, and is its primary source of non-oil imports.
All that stopped on February 28.
