When debris from an intercepted Iranian missile struck the Fairmont The Palm, a five-star hotel on Dubai’s opulent manmade archipelago on Feb. 28, it pierced not just the country’s advanced missile defence system but also its carefully crafted image of security.

For decades, the United Arab Emirates has positioned itself as an economic and cultural hub, connecting European and Asian markets.

“The U.A.E. in particular, but more broadly, the rest of the Gulf positioned itself as a haven, surrounded by a pool of chaos for the last 40 years … and that’s all been shattered now,” said Stephen J. Fallon, a political analyst who lived in the country for eight years, and now resides in Ireland.

But on Saturday, just hours after the U.S. and Israel launched massive strikes against Iran that killed the country’s longtime Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the U.A.E. came under fire like never before.

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