Just as Dubai International Airport sought to show that operations were returning to normal, an Iranian drone attack early today sparked a fuel tank fire that sent plumes of smoke billowing against the city skyline and forced renewed flight suspensions.

As the blaze flared for hours before being brought under control, authorities diverted aircraft to other airports in the UAE while road access around the airport was restricted. Emirates,  flydubai and other carriers reported that services were disrupted

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf states have faced more than ​2,000 missile and ⁠drone attacks since Feb. 28, with targets including key oil infrastructure, as well as office towers, hotels and residential neighborhoods.

Flights in the region are at about half their usual level, though their number has risen since the start of the war.

Drone and missile fire have regularly kept aircraft circling Dubai’s main airport – one of the world’s busiest – damaging Middle East tourism worth about $367 billion a year. Air freight ​rates have surged as much as 70% on some routes.

Meanwhile, economists say Qatar and Kuwait could see GDP contract by about 14% if the Strait of Hormuz remains shut for two months, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE would likely suffer declines of 3-5% Bloomberg reports. 

Gulf oil producers have lost an estimated $15 billion in energy revenues since Iran’s retaliation against U.S. and Israeli air strikes by disrupting shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, The Financial Times reports.

Formula One has canceled the Bahrain Grand Prix and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix scheduled for April because of the Iran conflict.

The decision removes two key Middle East races from the early part of the 2026 season. Officials said concern for the safety of teams, drivers and fans made it impossible to proceed.

Organizers are now assessing whether the races can be rescheduled later in the year if conditions improve.

“Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are incredibly important to the ecosystem of our racing season ​and I look forward to returning to ​both as soon as circumstances allow.” FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said.

Air freight rates are surging as the Middle East conflict disrupts global trade routes, forcing companies to divert shipments from sea to air, and driving up transportation costs across the board.

Rates on some cargo routes have jumped by as much as 70% since the war began as airlines reroute flights around closed airspace, deal with fuel surcharges and navigate war-risk insurance costs, Reuters reports.

The disruption has hit shipments from South Asia to Europe particularly hard, including cargo such as generic medicines that are shifting from ocean freight to more expensive air transport.

The surge in costs is adding pressure across industries from electronics to food and pharmaceuticals, the news agency said.

Cargo capacity has also tightened as airlines reduce payloads and alter routes to avoid conflict zones in the Gulf, while operations at major hubs such as Dubai and Doha have been disrupted. The price for shipping goods from South Asia to Europe has climbed to about $4.37 per kilogram from $2.57 on some routes.

More than 100 container ships have been left stranded near the Strait of Hormuz amid maritime disruptions, forcing companies to scramble for alternative logistics channels. 

Saudi Arabia’s state shipping giant Bahri is booking additional tankers to help move crude exports around disrupted Gulf routes, with vessels heading from as far away as Singapore toward the Red Sea port of Yanbu to load Saudi oil, Bloomberg reports.

Helium prices are surging after the Iran conflict disrupted Qatar’s natural-gas processing, exposing the fragility of a market that supplies industries from semiconductor manufacturing to medical imaging.

Qatar produces roughly one-third of the world’s helium, and the shutdown of some gas facilities and shipping routes has sharply reduced supply.

Spot helium prices have roughly doubled as buyers scramble to secure shipments, Reuters reports.

Qatari Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times last week that it would take “weeks to months” for deliveries to return ​to ​normal.

The financial shock from the Iran war, with its disruptions of oil shipping and global trade, is leading at least three Gulf states to review how their sovereign wealth funds are managing trillions of dollars in global investments.

The reassessments could lead to measures such as delaying some overseas investments, reassessing sponsorship commitments and potentially selling government assets in order to relieve pressure on their economies, Reuters reports, citing an unnamed Gulf official.

The individual sovereign funds were not identified by the news agency, which said three of the four largest economies in the Gulf – which are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait – were formally conducting the reviews.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, the Qatar Investment Authority and Kuwait Investment Authority are continuing to pursue international deals, while their governments decide whether spending priorities or the pace of investments should be adjusted as the crisis unfolds, Reuters said.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s $38 billion push to build a global video-game industry is facing new uncertainty as the Iran war raises security concerns that could deter foreign developers, investors and esports events the kingdom hopes to attract, Bloomberg reports.

The initiative, led by the PIF’s Savvy Games Group as part of the kingdom’s economic diversification strategy, depends heavily on international partnerships that could slow if regional instability persists.

The nuclear industry could benefit from the current bout of global energy insecurity as attacks on three more cargo ships in the Gulf push oil prices toward $100.

Boris Schucht, CEO of uranium enrichment company Urenco, told the Financial Times that a “nuclear renaissance” is underway, with the company holding a record $21.3 billion order book for uranium and fuel products.

“The supply crisis in the Middle East will refocus policymakers and industry on energy security and the need to have some form of baseload power in countries that is independent from supply threats,” Schucht said.

Analysts say the crisis is prompting governments from Europe to Japan to accelerate nuclear plans, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the continent’s earlier retreat from nuclear power a “strategic mistake.”

Governments around the world are scrambling to contain the escalating shock to energy markets from the Iran war, with oil traders tracking disruptions to Gulf exports and tanker traffic as officials weigh emergency measures to stabilize supplies.

Officials from the International Energy Agency are discussing what could be the largest coordinated release of strategic oil reserves in history – about 300 million to 400 million barrels – far exceeding the 182 million barrels released in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reports.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf producers are assessing how much crude they can continue exporting as tanker insurers and shipping companies review the risks of operating in the region.

Many cargoes have been delayed and freight rates for vessels willing to enter the Gulf have surged as the conflict intensifies.

At the same time, officials are studying whether alternative routes – including Saudi pipelines that bypass the Strait of Hormuz and export terminals on the Red Sea – can help keep oil moving if shipping disruptions worsen, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The U.S. and its allies are also discussing naval measures to safeguard commercial traffic through the Gulf.

Energy traders say the combination of possible supply outages, tanker disruptions and a record emergency stockpile release has turned the oil market into a day-to-day calculation of how quickly governments can offset the barrels at risk from the conflict.

It’s not just oil. War with Iran is also making a range of chemicals critical for food production more expensive, including fertilizer components like urea and ammonia, Bloomberg reports.

The Middle East is the source of some 45% of the global urea supplies, which cannot be stored for long periods.

That means logistical disruptions such as the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz can quickly tighten the market and send prices soaring.

Western sanctions have curtailed imports of Russian fertilizers, while China has imposed export restrictions to protect domestic demand and support its farming sector, the news agency said.