UAE orders closure of Iran-backed hospital in Dubai

2026-03-21 - 16:35

The United Arab Emirates has ordered the closure of an Iranian state-linked hospital in Dubai, three employees at the facility told AFP, as ties between the two neighbours deteriorate amid Tehran’s aerial campaign against Gulf states. Since the United States and Israel began striking Iran on February 28, Tehran has launched waves of missiles and drones at Gulf states, with more than 2,000 attacks on the UAE alone. The strikes have strained ties between the countries, prompting Abu Dhabi to recall its ambassador to Iran and close its diplomatic mission. Iran-linked entities, including schools, have been shut despite longstanding economic and community links. “The government asked all of us to leave,” an employee at the hospital told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. “The hospital management told us it was because of Iran’s attacks on the UAE,” he added. The Iranian hospital, which employs more than 700 people, is run by the Iranian Red Crescent Society. It is one of the oldest healthcare facilities in the UAE. A UAE official told AFP “certain institutions directly linked to the Iranian regime and IRGC will be closed under targeted measures” after being found to violate UAE laws. “These measures are administrative in nature and will be implemented in an orderly manner to ensure continuity of essential services,” they added. At least three staff members said they were informed of the decision last Saturday during a staff meeting and asked to vacate in the coming days. “We never expected it to happen so quickly,” one doctor told AFP. “There were officials and security personnel inside the compound when I came to work on Tuesday.” Patients have been transferred to other facilities in Dubai, staff said, while the hospital’s website has been removed. At least four Iranian schools have also been shut in Dubai, according to members of the Iranian community. Signage at the Towheed Iranian School in Dubai has been removed, and a security guard at the site told AFP the school was closed. The Iranian Club in Dubai, also linked to Tehran, said it suspended activities in a statement on Instagram on Monday, citing “current circumstances”. On Friday, the UAE arrested at least five members of an Iran- and Hezbollah-linked network that sought to “infiltrate the national economy” and threaten UAE financial stability. Iran and the UAE share deep cultural and historical ties as neighbouring countries across the Gulf, with centuries-old links between coastal communities, trade routes and family networks. Some Iranian hospital staff said they feared their lives were being upended as the conflict pitted their homeland against their adopted home. “We came here to escape the situation back home,” said a doctor who has worked at the hospital for more than a decade. “It is heartbreaking that our lives are affected like this.” AFP