DP World, the Dubai-owned port operator that handles 10% of all global container traffic, is introducing a war-risk insurance plan aimed at companies suffering cargo losses connected to the Iran conflict.

With some 1,500 vessels immobilized by the two-month-old blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, DP World’s insurance plan will offer as much as $400 million per shipment, according to the state-run Emirates News Agency.

Policies, which cover shipping, air freight and trucking routes, also apply to the Red Sea, which has periodically been blocked by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Meanwhile, UAE’s national oil company ADNOC has kept some LNG exports moving through the strait by going dark – instructing tankers to switch off their tracking signals so they pass undetected through the Gulf waters, Bloomberg reports.

As the Gulf states have managed to transport petroleum and gas overland across the Arabian Peninsula to reach foreign ports, Iran has also been shifting more trade with China onto rail lines to get around a U.S. counter-blockade on its shipping routes, according to Bloomberg. 

G42, the UAE’s government-backed artificial intelligence company, is moving forward with expansion plans in the U.S. by opening a new data center in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A unit of the Abu Dhabi-based firm, Core42, leased space in a converted office tower in the Midwest city that is being redeveloped into an AI data center, as it seeks a bigger foothold in the U.S. market amid surging demand for high-speed computing, Bloomberg reports.

The Minnesota project is part of the strategy pursued by G42 Chairman Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE’s National Security Advisor, to turn the company into a global AI leader through partnerships with U.S. technology firms, including Microsoft and OpenAI.

G42, which is also operating in California, Texas and New York, announced in February that it’s leading a $1 billion project in Vietnam to build data centers and provide cloud computing services.

At the Milken Institute’s Global Conference 2026 in Los Angeles this week, Mubadala Deputy Group CEO Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi said that disruptions from the ongoing conflict with Iran won’t stop the sovereign wealth fund – which holds a minority stake in G42 – from increasing its investments in the U.S.

The commercial launch of Riyadh Air, the new carrier backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is facing delays because of hold-ups in certification of its new jets by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

The airline was supposed to start taking delivery of its Boeing  787 widebody aircraft last year, but only a handful of the planes have been assembled and they are still awaiting certification, Bloomberg reports.

The certification process has dragged on for months longer than expected and the FAA has not given a fresh timeline for final approvals, the news agency reports.

Riyadh Air, which has not yet given an exact date for its planned 2026 launch, signed deals for more than 39 Boeing 787-9 models, with options for 33 more. It also has orders for 100 narrow and widebody aircraft from Airbus, which are yet to be delivered. 

The UAE said it’s going to build a free zone in Abu Dhabi designed to attract foreign defense manufacturers, acting days after Iran renewed attacks on its oil installations.

The industrial complex in the capital city’s Al Selmiyyah district will be developed in partnership with Abu Dhabi-backed AD Ports and coordinated with state-owned military contractor EDGE and ADNOC, the national oil company, according to a statement published by the Emirates News Agency on Wednesday.

“The initiative marks a significant step in advancing the UAE’s efforts to build an advanced and sustainable national defense industrial base that strengthens national security and enhances long-term defense readiness,” the UAE’s Tawazun Council for Defense Enablement said in the statement.

The project was announced in Abu Dhabi at the “Make it in the Emirates” expo after Bloomberg reported that senior UAE officials have held preliminary talks on creating a new investment vehicle to buy stakes in foreign defense companies. Among those reported to have participated were Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed and Mubadala CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

Investors in Wynn Resorts will be looking for answers this week about whether the Las Vegas-based casino operator will delay next year’s planned opening of its $5.1 billion UAE project because of the Iran war.

The company issued a statement in March that the conflict had briefly interrupted construction and that some employees were being offered to work abroad.

Now – after the UAE was attacked again this week by Iranian drones – Wynn is contemplating postponing its target opening in the spring of 2027, Bloomberg reports. Company executives will be questioned by investment bank analysts on Thursday when Wynn reports earnings.

The Wynn Al Marjan Island has been positioned as a catalyst for a wider investment boom in the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, attracting luxury developers, hotel operators and retailers to the northern emirate. The resort is planned to include more than 1,500 rooms, a marina, shopping district and the Gulf’s first regulated gaming venue.

The UAE has pressed ahead with legalized gaming despite concerns elsewhere in the Gulf about casinos. Wynn rival MGM Grand is building a hotel in Dubai. 

The government created a regulatory authority in 2023 to license casinos, lotteries, sports betting, online gaming, and integrated resorts. Wynn Resorts received the country’s first commercial gaming license in 2024. 

Saudi Arabia has posted its biggest quarterly budget deficit since 2018 in a sign of the challenges faced by the Middle East’s largest economy in the wake of the Iran war.

The budget shortfall of 125.7 billion riyals ($33.5 billion) is more than double that for the same period last year.

Despite the kingdom attempting to rein in some of its spending on big-budget projects and splashier investments like LIV Golf, expenditure rose about 20% to $103 billion during the quarter.

While the conflict has caused disruption and damage to some infrastructure, Saudi Arabia has now diverted most of its oil exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu and is benefiting from the higher oil price, meaning it could see improved revenues and a smaller shortfall for the second quarter if it maintains export levels, Bloomberg reports.

On the UAE’s eastern coast, it was back to wartime footing after Iranian drone attacks set off a fire at the Port of Fujairah’s petroleum storage complex and struck an empty ADNOC oil tanker. But in Abu Dhabi’s ADNEC Centre, it was business as usual at the annual Make It In The Emirates expo.

After Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of ADNOC and UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, opened the four-day show on Monday, tens of thousands of attendees milling through the vast halls and 1,200 exhibitors betrayed precious little concern.

“We are here for the business opportunities basically,” Ravina Kumari, a sales executive at Daman Insurance, told The Circuit’s Omnia Al Desoukie. “I don’t think there is any fear. We don’t feel that.”

The renewed Gulf hostilities, however, sent oil prices higher and global equities lower as the Iranian attacks against U.S. and UAE targets stoked fears of supply disruption through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude climbed toward a four-year high.

The UAE, meanwhile, is in talks with the U.S. over a potential currency swap line that would provide it with direct dollar liquidity access in times of crisis, Foreign Trade Minister Thani Al Zeyoudi said on Monday. 

“It’s part of an elite group that the U.S. is having this swap policy with,” Zeyoudi said at the Abu Dhabi conference. “Being part of that group means that transactions… trade, investments between both nations reach ⁠a level where that swap is highly needed, adding the move is “not about bailing out.”

Masdar is bolstering its expansion in the Iberian market with the purchase of another major stake in wind and solar assets.

The Abu Dhabi green energy company has agreed to buy a 49% stake in Spanish energy group Repsol’s largest renewables portfolio, according to a Spanish media report.

The Minerva project includes 13 wind farms and six solar farms, with 706 megawatts of installed capacity, and is valued at about 850 million euros ($996 million).

The deal is in its final stages and is likely to be formalized within weeks, newspaper Cinco Dias reported on Monday.

Masdar has been snapping up European assets, with a strong focus on Spain. In October, it finalized its purchase of a 49.99% stake in a $432 million portfolio of four solar plants from Endesa.