One of the Arab world's most prominent business figures has broken ranks and openly condemned Donald Trump for launching a war that has turned the Gulf into a target zone. Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, the founding chairman of Dubai-based Al Habtoor Group, has become the first high-profile Middle Eastern businessman to publicly denounce the US president over the military campaign against Iran.
This conflict has sent air-raid sirens ringing from Manama to Dubai and upended the strategic calculations of every Gulf state. His lengthy open letter, posted in Arabic on X on 5 March 2026, arrived at a moment of acute regional anxiety, and from a man whose public silence on Trump had, until now, been near-total.
