The Global Story: Can Dubai’s luxe image survive the war with Iran?

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1:03Download the app today. Hi there. It's Asma Khalid. I'm one of the hosts of the Global Story Podcast from the BBC. On our show we tell one story in depth every weekday about where the world and America meet. And as a bonus for your feed today we are bringing you one of our favorite episodes of the past week. We took a closer look at Dubai, the city that is supposed to be the land of luxury, a sort of playground for the wealthy. But in recent months it has faced very real threats in the wake of the war in Iran. How is this conflict transforming the United Arab Emirates and the lives of the people who live there? That's what you're here today. And if you enjoy our episode today you can always find more from us by searching for the Global Story wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Alright, under the show. When you think of Dubai what do you imagine? Let me guess, luxury hotels, endless shopping malls, sunsoked beaches, gleaming towers, five star restaurants, essentially a resort style oasis in the middle of the desert, right? Well, earlier this year

2:08that image seemed to come crashing down. The thing is Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates. A little country in the Gulf that has built a reputation on being safe and lux. It's also just south of Iran near the strait of Hormuz. And when the United States and Israel launched the war against Iran back in late February, the UAE became the target of Iran's retaliation. The UAE has close ties with the US and in the past few years it's been cooperating more with Israel too. And during this war it has been attacked by Iran more times than any other nation, including Israel. For years Dubai has been a place that promised safety, journey and stability. But as that promise fallen apart from the BBC, I must mahala in Washington DC. And today on the global story, six months after the war began, whatever happened to brand Dubai.

3:10I'm Samir Hoshmi. I'm an independent journalist based here in Dubai. I cover the Gulf region. I used to be the BBC's, the Middle East correspondent based in Dubai until last year. But now I'm independent. Well, Samir Hoshmi, welcome to the global story. You live and report in Dubai. And in late February when the United States and Israel began attacking Iran, we saw Iran very quickly retaliate. And it began by specifically aiming a lot of missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates. And Samir sitting here in Washington, you know, I certainly saw the images at the image. They have a luxury hotel on fire. We saw these social media videos. I'm actually so scared. I mean, JDC right now and I can see. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Ex-pats who thought they were living their best lives. One hour in Dubai. This is my house. There'd been missiles for the last 20 hours. We have just been hit by a drone. It stinks of oil in here. I think we've finished my cup of tea.

4:11Well, that got my heart racing. What a time to be alive, eh? There was this one video in particular on social media that struck a nerve with people. Not meant to be happening, you know. We're supposed to be inside this place like a maze and just stall. And I would understand from you, Samir, why were these images or these videos so disorienting to people around the world? We have to take a step back and talk about what was Dubai's perception globally before the war started. So Dubai was considered as the safe oasis, a hub for tourism business, luxury hotels. This was a picture that was painted globally about Dubai, which was partly true, of course. Travel and lifestyle influences. They projected a lifestyle of opulence that they're living in these fancy villas going to the beach side for a swim, going to these five star sounds out hotels and that somehow projected the image of Dubai. Some of it is true. Some of it is not as much.

5:12Yeah, I was going to say Samir, do you live in a fancy villa? I mean, that is the image we always see of Dubai. I was like, show us your crib. Unfortunately, no. But that's the case for most of the city, actually, as my think what these influences show or project is not even one person of Dubai's population. Why was it glaring? Yeah. The images that were coming out because Dubai has never been under attack. Even when there was a war in 1999, 1991, which was the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded, equated that point of time. And a lot of countries in this region, the Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, were under attack. And I was a child living in Saudi Arabia at that time. So I witnessed that war as well. Even at that point of time, Dubai never came under attack. Even if this region has seen turmoil, Dubai has always remained this safe place, isolated, insulated. So when people saw those images of the luxury hotel on the Palm Island, which is one of the most poshest areas, coming under attack or some of the commercial buildings, some of

6:16the civilian areas that Dubai airport, the Dubai port, that was really glaring because people have always associated the world Dubai with safety, with luxury, with tourism, with a good lifestyle. Was it a shock to you that Dubai was ensnared in this war? Did you see it as a safe haven? I think it did come as a shock for many. I did witness myself drones and missiles that were being intercepted by the UA government. And there were a lot, though, Samir, right? I mean, I think the sheer scope of it is I was prepping for this episode. It is staggering. Well, that's right. In the first two months of the war, which is when the war started on 28th Feb, all the way until May, especially the first two months, March and April, drones, missiles, all kinds of missiles, 2800, a little over that. We're shot towards the UAE. So at one point of time, all the attacks that we saw in this region, and when I say this region, this includes countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, more than 40% of the attacks or those

7:20missiles and drones were shot towards the UAE. More than Israel as well. Much more than Israel, because Israel is much further down from Iran. So Iran cannot shoot drones towards Israel. They can only launch cruisable ballistic missiles, which take much more time. And geographically, the UAE is just across the sea. It's really close for Iran to just shoot a drone that would just land on the UAE territory. What was that like? What were the days that nights like? I mean, it was quite staggering because usually when we think about conflict and war, it's like people fleeing their homes. That didn't happen. But you constantly had these alerts coming on your phone from the UA government saying that the countries under attack and the Ministry of Defense is intercepting missiles. Gering sound on your phone every day, whenever the city or the country was under attack. And imagine everyone would get it on their phone at the same time. So if you're in a public place or you're in a office, everyone's phone suddenly starts buzzing. There were no shelter

8:22rooms as such. Yeah. So what do you do if an alert comes through your phone? I think in the first few weeks, people were getting away from the glass windows because a lot of buildings here in Dubai are built of glass. This happened as soon as the first or three weeks. But then it changed. I think then people started getting used to it because as I was saying, more than 2,800 projectiles been shot towards the UAE. And most were intercepted, Samir. But some targets were hit, right? I mean, recall hearing the airport was struck. Yeah, more than 90% according to the official figures from the military and the Ministry of Defense, more than 90% of them were intercepted successfully. But yeah, there were a number of locations, which includes civilian infrastructure like airports, Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports, both. Which is significant, Samir. No, because I recall hearing that the Dubai airport is one of the most popular, well-transited airports in the world for international travel. It's the busiest airport for international travelers in the world. In 2025, 95 million people

9:23passed through that airport. Wow. Yeah, that was struck on a few occasions. Though officially, the government didn't confirm all those incidents, but yes, there were a number of videos, especially in the initial days that came out, which showed that the airport did come under attack. And due to which Dubai airport had to suspend flights of flight operations for a few hours. But even the Dubai port, that's smart because the Dubai port is one of the largest ports in the world. The largest in this region, a very important engine of the Dubai economy because you have vessels coming going and out for trading. So even that was, you know, a big shock. It strikes me that some people come to Dubai for a Lux lifestyle. Other people might move there for legitimate economic opportunities. There are many versions of a Dubai life you can have. But I want to get a sense from you of why so many people want to uproot their lives and move to Dubai. It is a city full of people from all over the world. Dubai, the figure right now, the latest data that's come out is 4.7 million people living in Dubai, out of which 60% 60 to 65% are South Asians.

10:29When I say South Asian, nationals, this includes Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, who have relocated here. And then you also have people from other countries like significant populations from Egypt, Philippines. It's an estimated figure across the UA-240,000 brits. The Western expat population across the UAE is estimated to be about half a million. Dominant Salvation diaspora. The local population of the UAE, when I say local population, hasn't the Emirati population, the UAE nationals are just about 10% of the population. Which is why this country relies heavily on migrant workers or people expat rates to come and work here and keep this country moving. Now the UAE does not give citizenship unlike many Western countries. There's no straightforward pathway to get a passport or a nationality where a few people get that. There are long term visas now. People would come here spend a few years, earn some good money and go back to their home country. But for a lot of people this has become a

11:33long term home. Yes, there is affection of the population which is effluent, but that is a very small population. When I say effluent like the millionaires, that population would be two, three percent of the overall population or four percent, five percent max. And it is true interestingly after COVID, the UAE has become the number one country in terms of millionaire migration. And what's the attraction? The attraction is safety. The crime rate is very low. You will barely hear stories about people getting mugged on the streets or I mean, I've never heard that story actually. I've never heard anyone getting mugged here. Yes, there are some petty crimes that have happened, but the rate is very low and there are a lot of surveillance cameras across the city. It's one of the most under watch city in that sense. Plus the lifestyle it offers. It's a very clean city. It's a very modern city. You can get all the convenience you want. The average salary of someone in Dubai and there's no government data that comes out.

12:34So a lot of them are based on the surveys that are done by institutions and things like that. The average salary is about $5,000, which is nowhere close to let's say someone who's projecting an image of opulence or luxury. But based on the surveys that come out, 60% of the population would be earning less than $1,500 a month in city because a huge section of that are also blue collar workers and there's no minimum wage system in the country. So there's a lot of disparity, but nevertheless, having said that, there is zero percent tax on your personal income. Samir, if we can go back to the start of the war, when Iran first started aiming missiles at the UAE, there were some people sharing this all on social media. How did the Emirati government respond to those posts? I think the initial one or two days, the government came out with statements asking people not to post these videos. Now, the thing is, Asma, that there are some rules and regulations here in the

13:39country, especially when it comes to social media, what you can post. The law is very clear. Anything that can be seen as disrespecting the country's sovereignty or the symbols or the institution or the supreme interest of the country or its society. Now, these are very broad terms, or the culture, or the national identity, or the values, or refrain from circulating information that may compromise national unity or social security or inside violence or panic. These were the general rules, but I think what happened during the war is because of the videos, the government came out and very categorically said that these videos are impacting the national security because it gives away sensitive information. In some cases, it's disseminating misinformation. Some of them are AI-generated videos, which is not true because some of them were actual real videos, but they really wanted to clam down on the information that was going out because they said that it could compromise national security. So they actually wanted the public

14:41to only share government information about the war and these strikes. That's correct. And did they threaten legal action if people chose to say publish or share or circulate images of their own? Yes, they did say that this could lead to imprisonment or a heavy fine. And a lot of people were detained. The official figure was about 375 people across the country were detained for different violations. Not all of them were detained for just posting videos, but a sizable of them were. There was one organization that claimed more than 20 Brits were detained, actually. Speak, can I pause and understand this a little bit? Because this just seems so normal in many environments, right? I've covered breaking news events here, frequently in the United States. And if a moment of crisis happens, I think it is such a part of how we operate that people pull out their phones and they document what is happening. You're right. It is an alien concept for many countries because usually you have the freedom to pull out your

15:44phone and film anything basically. I think what the challenge at the UAE and a lot section of this region, it's not just the UAE even countries like Saudi Arabia, Qaeda, Bahrain, all of them are autocracies. There's no democracy here. These are ruled usually by families, royal families, and they have an absolute say on what is published in the press, local press, and also the perception of what goes out publicly. So they try to manage perceptions of the country through keeping a stronghold on media as a whole. And when I say media or social media as well as the mainstream media. And those rules apply, you're saying to individuals, social media videos, also journalists in Dubai. And so, yeah, Samir, I imagine many listeners are wondering, well, here we are having this conversation with you as a journalist. Are you restrained in some capacity? I just want listeners to understand and understand this transparency we're having here with you. So yes, there are some clear guidelines of how the press has to function. And they became even

16:47more strict during the war. It didn't happen with me personally. But I know a number of colleagues who are working for other international outlets that face a lot of pressure from the authorities because they were posting videos on the news stories. What can I ask you then about these videos, right? Samir? Because you're saying that the port was hit. And people shared images of that. But if I understood you correctly, you're saying the government did not acknowledge that or at least initially did not acknowledge that. I mean, the port came under attack a number of times. The videos were circulating. But the government did not come out and explicitly say whether the port was attacked or not. One thing they did continuously confirm was that every day whenever there was a alert, they would give out the numbers. How many missiles were shot? How many did they intercept? They did give out the casualty numbers. So over 230 people were injured during the course of the war. And 13 people lost their lives. That is the figure that they gave out. And they did release photos and visuals of those who were injured, especially when the president went to meet them.

17:49And things like that. But yeah, in terms of videos, they were quite strict. And when you say they were quite strict, there were some people who were arrested. Have they been prosecuted? That's a very tough question to answer. Asma, because the problem here is the courts and the police don't release any public data. Or they don't comment on any specific cases. So if you as a journalist reach out to them, they will never give you an answer. And this is not because the war is in general. I can't go to the court here and just sit in a hearing. I can't do that as a journalist. It's against the law. But what my understanding Asma is from my sources that I've been speaking to the government. That a number of these people that were detained were let off because the embassies and of these various countries in their home countries. They did not comment publicly most of these countries because I think that was a part of the understanding. But a lot of these cases were dropped. And some people who were detained were let go. Because I think what was happening also, and I'm not trying to defend the UA government here in any way. But the problem also was, which I also felt, that a lot of Western

18:56news publications, especially the tabloids, started running headlines how Dubai was under attack, how the bubble has burst, painting a picture which did not truly represent what was happening on the ground. Because it gave a sense that there was this full blown out war and people were panicking and they were just trying to flee the country and how to buy a story was over. This is Angus Maximus. This border has one down of a pound of hot, using cooked to water Angus speed. It's more face to the quarter pounder. The tabloids closed. For only 599 even regular Jews can afford it. Like that guy. You get that big old burger. Yes. The whole Angus Maximus. Only 599 is whole senior. Available for a limited time to participate in restaurants. Tax not included. Not valid for use within a combo or in combination with any other offer or discount. We can eradicate food

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22:04and is responsible without me having to spend hours of my life doing it. I understand the buy-start is not over but some people were, I mean, certainly trying to leave in those early days. Some people, yeah, I think that qualification is important. I myself have reported about it. I know people who left the city, they didn't leave the country for good. But if you look at the number of people official data, the number of people who left the country during the war was only 61,000 out of a population of 4.7 million. So that's about 5% during the war. And now the population has gone back to that same level. The latest data that's come out in August, the population has actually slightly increased to what it was pre-war. So it's in that context of the government professing national security concerns for clapping down on the sharing

23:12you're saying of videos or photos on social media. And yet shortly after that, I recall seeing these sort of wave of videos online. Influences from across the UAE but particularly in Dubai have taken to social media to post near-identical videos. Many people in the comments have remarked how many similar videos they've seen. In near-identical format soundtrack and even the stock footage involved in the videos. It seemed to be showing a very similar counter-message. Now they all follow the same pattern, the same template. They start with the content creator with a picture-perfect background of Dubai featuring the caption, you live in Dubai. Aren't you scared? You live in Dubai, aren't you scared? You live in Dubai aren't you scared. And then it was show this montage of photos of Emirati authorities. Adding, no, because I know who protects us. No, because I know who protects us. I mean, who knows? I have a question of whether these were really organic or in some ways being

24:13promoted within the, but we saw these images that all seem to be projecting a very similar message about the safety and security of Dubai. And how do you understand that? Yeah, there was a lot of controversy around that video. I spoke to a number of people, Asma, within the government and also to a lot of influencers. I didn't find a single influencer who said that they were paid by anyone to put that video. The government sources told me that they have not sanctioned any campaign. However, I want to add here that there are a lot of influencers who are more aligned with the government, right? At that happens in a lot of countries. I come from India, I see that in India. It could be a case that there was a nudge from the government that maybe some of those influencers should put it out. But then I did see a number of people who are regular influencers have nothing to do with the government that started putting that video out. Now, I asked some of these influencers why they're doing it if they're not getting paid. So, I got

25:14mixed answers. I mean, I spoke to one influencer who was based here for about 10 to 15 years. And she said, I did it because Dubai is home to me. I've spent 15 years of my life here. I just want to show my support and solidarity because this city and country has given me so much. One influencer who was here just about two or three years told me that look, as a social media influencer, whatever I see is trending, I try to create similar reels, which will help get me more followers probably. And there was one influencer, interestingly, who moved away recently, less than a year, said that because their plan is to live and work here, they just want to make sure that they publicly showed the government that we are wearing much hair with you standing with you. I mean, I'm very clear that it was not paid. I don't think it was a paid campaign at all. You could argue that there might be a nudge from the government, especially towards the influencers who are close to the government who might have started discrend because we don't know how it started, right? So, yeah, it's a mix of answers, really.

26:17So, MIR earlier, you had mentioned tourism. And I think regardless of what people may be posting online, the mere existence of a regional war that is still not yet over, I mean, it undoubtedly does impact the sort of boost of foreigners who might visit a place as a tourist destination. And I want to ask you about that to what degree the bi-hacena drop off in tourism. Tourism has been battered completely since the war has started. Tourism is one of the main pillars of the economy here. It's a business hub, a number of industries here rely on tourism. The war has taken a toll on the tourism economy. What was worse for the tourism industry was this happened during the peak tourism season. From November all the way to April, that's the busy period. So, when the war started, which was on the 28th of Feb, March, April, where part of the peak season, so certainly we go to the fight, but cancelled, there was a significant drop. And it's still playing out,

27:19even during the summer. A number of carriers, especially Western carriers, are still not flying, British Airways being won. There are still advisories from a lot of Western governments, including the United States, that have advised people not to travel to the region. So, if you look at the first half of the year between January and June, air traffic or passenger traffic, as it's called, dropped by 30% compared to last year, the same period last year. So, that's a significant drop. And that's because there are less number of flights and be less people flying for tourist reasons. So, that's one part. Second is the hotels and restaurants have been struggling. Occupancy levels are down to 20, 25%. A number of layoffs have happened in industries, which are linked to tourism. The worry is the second half of the year, because right now, the war asma hasn't stopped, even though we don't have the same situation as March and April. Yeah, I was going to say, are the attacks continuing towards the UAE? No, actually, we haven't seen much except for one occasion in the last one month.

28:22Just two weeks ago, there wasn't a load that was issued. That two missiles were shot towards the UA, but one fell in the water and one fell on non-civiline area in the land, and no one was heard. But you know that uncertainty is there, right, Asma? I mean, if you talk about last year, 19.5 million tourists visited Dubai, which puts Dubai at the top 10 most visited cities in the world. But this year, that number could go down dramatically like we saw during COVID. Samir, you're describing a city that still feels very much like it's living through uncertain days. You know, when this war began, I think that image of Dubai as the safe secure oasis in the Middle East was punctured. Is it your sense that this promise of safety, security, and importantly stability has that promise fallen apart? And if so, what does that mean? I mean, look, there's no doubt that when you talk about brand Dubai, I think that definitely has cracked. I think there are

29:25two things here. I think one thing is the long term stability of Dubai. People still believe that because they feel that this war will finally come to an end, and the UAE will be able to rebuild or repair that image. But having said that, Asma, I think it's also important to remember that by and large, the population here are South Asians and Asians. For them, despite this war, Dubai remains a very attractive destination because it offers them better opportunities. They rely on remittances. Remittances is the money that people make here and send back to their home countries. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, a sizable amount of remittances come from the Gulf because people who are taking care of their own diet and send that back. So I don't think that for the global South that Dubai is going away anyway because even today it is the business hub of the

30:28region. There's no replacement yet. Yes, Raya is coming up, Doha to an extent, but Dubai is still the undisputed business hub. But yeah, I think there are definitely short term challenges about whether Dubai can go back to what it was before. In terms of the image, I think that will take time. And a lot would depend how long does this war take to come to mind. And that is the great unknown smear. It is. Yeah. Well, on that note, I just want to say thank you for joining us on the global story. I really appreciate it. Thanks, Asma. That was the mere Hashmi who spent more than a decade reporting for the BBC. He's now an independent journalist based in Dubai. And as always, if you all have any feedback for us, any store ideas or questions, our email address is the globalstory at BBC.com. And a quick recommendation before we wrap up today's show. As you all know by now, we hear at the global story dive deep every week day on one big story about where the world and America meet.

31:33If you're also looking for a way to catch up on the latest news headlines, then we recommend checking out our sister show, the global news podcast. Our show today was produced by Sandra Ellen and Vari McKinsey. It was mixed by Travis Evans. Our digital producer is Charlie Firth. Our executive producer was Martin Powers and our senior news editor is China Collins. Thanks as always for spending some time with us and we'll talk to you again soon. It's Paul and America. Make it count at the Ram Drive-In to Fall Sales event. Make it powerful with our strongest Ram 1500 ever. Make it move with the Ram Heavy Duty with an available Cummins diesel and make it go the distance with a 10-year or 100,000 mile powertrain limited warranty. Hurry and now for great deals during the Ram Drive-In to Fall Sales event. Excludes fully electric vehicles applied to 2026 model-year vehicles non-transferrable visit moapart.com for complete details and a copy of the powertrain limited warranty. Comment as a registered trademark of Cummins ain't Ram and Hammy are registered trademarks of FCA US LLC.