“The UAE and the Widening Gulf Conflict: What Happens Next?” — 9 September, National Liberal Club, London. Join senior figures from policy, diplomacy, media and business for a frank discussion on the UAE’s resilience, its diplomatic balancing act, and its relationship with Britain amid the widening Gulf conflict. Register free → https://events.emirateswire.co.uk/
What you need to know
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and President Trump held a phone call Thursday to discuss regional developments and de-escalation efforts, 72 hours after the UAE intercepted an Iranian drone.
Brent settled at $95.63 on Wednesday, a five-week high, before slipping roughly 1.6% intraday Thursday to around $94-$95.
UAE 24K gold jumped to Dh532-Dh535 a gram Thursday, up Dh10 since 1 September, as households and markets price in a sticky war premium.
Starlink officially went live in the UAE on Thursday under a new 10-year licence, becoming a third connectivity option alongside the du-Etisalat duopoly.
India’s Commerce Minister said trade agreements with the Gulf Cooperation Council and Israel will be finalised once regional conditions stabilise, explicitly linking the war to India’s Gulf economic diplomacy.
Morning. Steve Moore here.
Running a country requires a particular kind of composure when the President is on the phone to Washington discussing missile exchanges at ten, and by noon the same government is issuing statements about clean-energy targets and satellite broadband packages. Most places would call that dissonance. Abu Dhabi calls it Thursday.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Trump Hold Phone Call as War Ricochets Across Gulf Allies
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and President Trump held a phone call Thursday to discuss developments in the Middle East, ongoing efforts to reduce tensions, and UAE-US bilateral cooperation. The call came 72 hours after the UAE intercepted an Iranian drone over its territorial waters, and just hours after Iran fired missiles at US-linked sites in Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait. The readout signals Abu Dhabi is actively pressing Washington for a de-escalation track without breaking from the alliance line, a delicate balancing act that has defined the UAE’s posture throughout this week’s fighting.
Brent Hits Five-Week High as UAE Gold Surges Past Dh530
Brent settled at $95.63 on Wednesday, up roughly 1% or 98 cents, a five-week high, with WTI settling at $91.01; Brent then slipped about 1.6% intraday Thursday to trade between $94.06 and $95.39. UAE 24K gold hit Dh532-Dh535 a gram Thursday morning, Dh10 above the 1 September print and Dh3.75 above Wednesday’s close. Together, these two prints offer the cleanest read on how much war premium is now baked into UAE household budgets and the wider fiscal picture: oil is funding government coffers even as gold signals households quietly hedging their bets.
Tanker Struck by Three Projectiles Exiting Hormuz
UK Maritime Trade Operations said a tanker was struck by three “unknown projectiles” while sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, with no casualties or environmental impact initially reported. It’s the first hard shipping casualty of this week’s renewed combat phase, and it lands alongside Iran’s active 45-tanker Hormuz blacklist, putting freight insurance and shuttle-trade routing back on watch for ADNOC’s downstream operations and every Gulf-based shipper.
Starlink Goes Live in the UAE, Breaking the Telecom Duopoly
Elon Musk confirmed Thursday that Starlink is officially live in the UAE, days after the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority granted the company a 10-year General Space Services licence covering individuals, businesses and government entities. The launch follows an earlier, narrower 2024 licence that had limited Starlink to maritime use only, and TDRA has explicitly framed the wider rollout as strengthening the resilience of the country’s communications infrastructure — a curious choice of word, resilience, in a week when everyone has been using it to describe considerably less cheerful things.
Residential plans start at Dh300 a month, with hardware priced from Dh1,465 and speeds up to 400 Mbps, and the service comes with a 30-day trial, already running at capacity in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with new customers joining a waiting list, an early signal of strong latent demand for a genuine third option alongside the du-Etisalat duopoly. The licence also covers maritime and aviation connectivity, worth watching given this week’s run of flight disruptions across Emirates, Etihad and Air Arabia.
India Ties Gulf and Israel Trade Deals to Regional Stabilisation
India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said New Delhi plans to finalise free trade agreements with the Gulf Cooperation Council and Israel once conditions in the region improve, explicitly acknowledging that the war is now the direct obstacle to India’s broader Gulf trade diplomacy. The comment lands the same week Brent is trading near $95, tying together this newsletter’s oil coverage and India’s economic strategy in one line.
The bigger story sits underneath the headline: the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, the infrastructure vision meant to link India through the Gulf and Israel to Europe, has its most advanced leg running through the UAE, while the northern leg through Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel remains stalled, hampered by a roughly $5 billion funding gap on the Jordan-Israel rail segment and continued doubt over whether Haifa port is even usable given regional instability. India-UAE ties, by contrast, keep advancing regardless of the war, with the CEPA partnership already in force and the MAITRI customs system expected to launch on the UAE-India corridor later this year. UAE-linked economic activity keeps moving on its own track this week, even as the broader regional integration story it sits inside stays hostage to the fighting.
UAE Aviation Worsens as Emirates Cuts Dubai-Basra
Emirates cancelled its Dubai-Basra service, Air Arabia scrapped several flights linking the UAE with Kuwait and Bahrain, and flydubai’s Dubai-Bahrain service was still operating on schedule as of Wednesday evening. Passengers should expect a mixed picture of operating, delayed and cancelled flights into Friday as EASA’s Gulf conflict-zone advisory remains in force; more than 15 major international carriers remain suspended into DXB through October, even as the airport itself runs close to full capacity.
Adam Neumann’s Flow Takes DIFC Licence, Targets Q1 2027 UAE Launch
Flow, the branded-residential real-estate company founded by WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann, has secured a Dubai International Financial Centre commercial licence and opened a DIFC office, with plans to launch its first UAE communities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi by the first quarter of 2027. The move extends a Gulf push that began in Saudi Arabia two years ago and adds another branded-residential operator to a Dubai market that recorded AED 2.78 billion in transactions on 1 September alone.
UAE Pitches “Balanced” Clean-Energy Approach as War Premium Lifts Oil
UAE Undersecretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs Eng Sharif Al Olama highlighted the UAE’s “balanced approach” to building a cleaner, smarter and more efficient energy system at a Dubai event Thursday, reaffirming progress toward the country’s 2030 clean-energy goals. The framing lands the same day Brent is trading around $95, underscoring how UAE energy messaging still runs on two tracks in a war economy: fossil-fuel export capacity restored at Ruwais, and a clean-energy pipeline positioned for COP-relevant audiences.
dnata Takes Luxury Travel Roadshow to France for First Time
dnata Travel Group announced Thursday that Opulence by Ahlan Arabia, its exclusive luxury travel roadshow, will debut in France this winter, its first international edition. It’s a cheerful marker in a heavy week for war coverage: Dubai’s tourism arm is still building distribution across Europe, relevant for anyone tracking the Q4 booking window.
Watch Tomorrow
Whether Thursday’s overnight period brings a third US strike into Iran, any further Hormuz shipping incident, or a formal UAE statement following the MBZ-Trump call.
Oil and gold Friday: whether Brent holds around $94-$95 and whether UAE 24K gold breaks above Dh535.
Further advisories from Emirates, Etihad, flydubai and Air Arabia on Kuwait, Bahrain and Basra services.
— Steve
Steve Moore
Emirates Wire · launching 9 September 2026, National Liberal Club, London
emirateswire.co.uk · steve@emirateswire.co.uk
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“The UAE and the Widening Gulf Conflict: What Happens Next?” — 9 September, London. If you’d value a seat in the room for this one, register for free at https://events.emirateswire.co.uk/