this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2026
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Dubai has only ten days of fresh food left after the closure of the Straits of Hormuz has cut the United Arab Emirates (UAE) off from all its imports, including food. In Abu Dhabi, with the prospect of the region becoming unliveable, real estate prices are also collapsing.

As bne IntelliNews reported, the Hormuz chokepoint could kill Dubai, a hub of investment and business in the region. The Gulf countries don’t have any water and don’t produce much food for their combined population of around 60mn people. Fresh products in particular like vegetables and fruit are almost all imported. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) closed the Straits of Hormuz to oil exports on March 2, but the embargo also effectively blocked all food imports at the same time.

The Emirates imports between 80% and 90% of its food, with roughly 70% of food shipments to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries normally passing through the Strait of Hormuz on the 100- odd ships that traversed the Straits until a week ago.

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[–] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 14 points 6 hours ago

The other issue these gulf states have is potable water. The majority of it is generated at a few desalination plants. The Iranians have already demonstrated their ability to reliably hit infrastructure all over the region. They can up the ante and create absolute chaos in the region. Even if the US-Israeli strikes cripple Iran's infrastructure, Iran is in a stronger negotiating position. I'm appalled at the EU response to this unprovoked attack. They seem to think that appeasing a bully like trump is going to benefit the EU. Trump started this conflict in order to distract us from his other crimes. When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

[–] FosterMolasses@leminal.space 6 points 6 hours ago

It's fine, I'm sure all the instafluencer porta-potties can just order Amazon!

Let them eat Uber.

[–] sturmblast@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago
[–] jeffep@lemmy.world 0 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

How many days of "fresh food" can someone possibly have left?

[–] Samskara@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago

Zucchini in the fridge will last for more than a week easy. Eggs last a month or longer. Onions don’t even need a fridge and last months.

[–] Mwa@thelemmy.club 0 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

UAE Does not have/grow any Local Food????
or is that for all Middle east countries.

[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 8 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

It is literally in the last paragraph of the write-up.

UAE imports 90% of its food while overall the gulf countries import 70% of their food.

Not much of a surprise, they are not known for their swathes of farm land.

[–] Mwa@thelemmy.club 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Okay thank you.
I should read more next time.

[–] sheetzoos@lemmy.world 24 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Dubai had no problem using slaves to build the Burj Khalifa. Maybe they should have their slaves bring some food for their masters?

[–] BluesF@lemmy.world 16 points 6 hours ago

I propose the slaves eat their masters

[–] P1k1e@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago

Perhaps a few cocktails as well

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 104 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

be dubai
build city in the middle of the desert
literally nothing grows here
we import all our stuff
trade blockade
gonna starve
mfw

Also how did people historically live there? Before desalination plants

[–] Renat@szmer.info 52 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In XVIII they lived from fishery and hunting clams. In XX they lived from port and trade. In second half of XX they lived from petroleum. Now they live from youtubers who are testing rooms and food there.

[–] uienia@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It should also be mentioned that considerably fewer people lived there back then.

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[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

Obviously far fewer people lived there. They probably got their fresh water from a wadi or an oasis.

They're not going to starve because they have a reserve of canned and frozen foods (as it says in the article), but they won't get fresh food for a while. And, if you live in a modern city, you also import all your food, often from across an ocean.

The problem we're seeing a lot in the modern world is that everything has been ultra optimized. Lots of just-in-time delivery, as little warehousing as possible. Products are bought for the lowest possible cost, even if that means they're shipped from the other side of the planet. When it works, that's fine. But, when there's a disruption it's deadly. I remember at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the price of bread in Egypt skyrocketed since all the grain they used came from Ukraine.

UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, etc. are in a bad geographic situation. They have ports on the sea but to get anything into their countries it has to pass by the Strait of Hormuz. Iran can mess with that traffic any time it wants, and Iran isn't exactly friendly with those countries, or particularly stable. I wonder if those countries have backup plans to ship things in via say Oman.

[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

All the Andrew Tate bro types are going to FAFO.

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 7 points 22 hours ago

REAL MEN DON'T STARVE!

[–] Jaberw0cky@lemmy.world 21 points 23 hours ago

Then they shouldn’t allow US bases that get them embroiled in unprovoked conflicts.

[–] WatsonCrick@piefed.ca 43 points 1 day ago (6 children)

There are roads between the eastern side of the strait and Dubai and there is a cool technology called “trucks” that can be used to transport produce. Yes, it’s more expensive than boats but I read somewhere that Dubai is very rich.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

If your infrastructure is all geared around getting everything in by port, it might not be possible to switch to getting it all in by truck.

There might not be enough trucks, or enough truck drivers. If they can get enough trucks and drivers, the roads may not be able to support that much traffic. And, that's assuming they even have enough ports, and the right kinds of ports to unload any ships that come in on that side.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 7 points 21 hours ago

No, surely they just didn't think of it.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

There’s thousands of trucks driving every night

There’s so many trucks they are not allowed to drive during the day. So the night it’s just one straight line of trucks from RAK to Abu Dabi

They don’t have trains so its the main way of moving goods between the emirates

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 7 points 22 hours ago

Trust me. They know about trucks. From 8 in the evening to 6 in the morning it’s miles and miles and miles of trucks going from the north to south

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[–] Mvlad88@lemmy.world 114 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Maybe one of those vanity projects could have been a greenhouse or something, but I guess it's too late for that.

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[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 93 points 1 day ago (2 children)

i hope nobody starves but fuck Dubai

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 87 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Oh don't worry. The modern day slaves - the Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Sri Lankan, Indonesian, and Filipino workers will absolutely suffer.

[–] FosterMolasses@leminal.space 1 points 6 hours ago

They should honestly try to go home by any means necessary at this point, even if it means deportation (since a lot of predatory contracts confiscate their passports).

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 46 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Now would be a great time for these overworked and underpaid masses to do the funny thing to the besieged city of millionaires.

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[–] BigMacHole@sopuli.xyz 231 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Oh NO! RICH people live in Dubai!

-The Media!

[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 147 points 1 day ago (3 children)

there’s also many slaves who live in dubai

i sure wonder who, of the two, will be denied food

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[–] testuserpleaseupvote@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago

It's a food pipeline they need, none of them gas ones.

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