UAE billionaire Habtoor openly lambasts Trump over Iran war

Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, the founding chairman of global conglomerate Al Habtoor Group, has become the first high-profile Middle Eastern businessman to publicly criticize US President Donald Trump for waging a war with Iran that has upended the whole region.

What happened: In a Thursday post on X, Habtoor condemned the president’s decision to strike Iran as “dangerous” and asked whether he calculated the likely collateral damage before doing so.

“You have placed the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab countries at the heart of a danger they did not choose,” Habtoor said. “Thank God, we are strong and capable of defending ourselves, and we have armies and defenses that protect our homelands, but the question remains: Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield?"

He accused the US and Israel of starting the war “before the ink has dried” on the Board of Peace initiative launched by Trump in January. The US-led body was created to manage Gaza’s reconstruction and regional security following the Israel-Hamas war. Although it was initially approved by the UN Security Council as a temporary Gaza-focused entity, its scope has expanded into a broader voluntary coalition of states operating separately from the UN peacekeeping system. The board requires a $1 billion fee for permanent membership and is chaired by Trump, who holds sweeping authority over its operations.

Habtoor said that much of the funding for the Board of Peace came from Middle Eastern countries, including the Gulf states, which “contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development.”

He went on, “And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?"

Gulf states Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are all permanent members.

Al-Monitor has contacted the White House for comment on Habtoor’s take.

Why it matters: The criticism marks the first public condemnation of Trump by a high-profile Gulf businessman since the beginning of the war between the United States, Israel and Iran on Saturday. In both of his presidential terms, Trump has made the Gulf a strategic priority, visiting the region first on official trips and announcing trade and investment agreements worth billions and sometimes trillions of dollars. The president announced some $3.2 trillion in investments on a trip to the Gulf in May 2025.

According to Forbes, Habtoor is ranked 335th among the world's wealthiest individuals with a net worth of $2.3 billion. His privately held, Dubai-based group has a portfolio spanning luxury hotels and shopping malls as well as investments in sectors including construction, engineering, hospitality and sports. 

Habtoor is a former Dubai-based business partner of Trump's. In 2008, construction and engineering firm Habtoor Leighton Group was part of a joint venture awarded a 2.9 billion-dirham ($790-million) construction contract for the proposed Trump International Hotel and Tower on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah. The project was shelved in 2011 following the global financial crisis.

In 2015, Habtoor stopped working with Trump after the Republican presidential candidate called for Muslims to be barred from traveling to the United States.

The Emirati business magnate had previously thrown his weight behind Trump in the 2016 election campaign. Habtoor penned an op-ed for the UAE newspaper the National in August 2015, "Why I'm backing The Donald's bid to be president," praising him as a "fearless doer" and a successful businessman.

After Trump called for Muslims to be barred from entering the United States in December 2015, Habtoor told NBC News that he regretted supporting the Republican frontrunner.

Know more: In his lengthy X post on Thursday, Habtoor also accused Trump of breaking campaign promises not to get involved in wars and focus only on the US. He noted that the president has ordered foreign military interventions in seven countries during his second term, including Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iran and Venezuela, in addition to naval operations in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. 

He added that the US' foreign military forays have “severely reflected” on Trump’s approval ratings among Americans, declining since his January 2025 inauguration. Averages calculated by The New York Times and RealClearPolitics aggregators show the president’s approval rating has been net negative since the spring of 2025. 

Habtoor said that there was “growing concern” among Americans about the country starting a new war.

“True leadership is not measured by war decisions, but by wisdom, respect for others, and pushing toward achieving peace. And if these initiatives were launched in the name of peace, then we have the right today to demand full transparency and clear accountability,” he added.