US President Donald Trump speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Photo: AFP file
Khalaf Al Habtoor, chairman of Al Habtoor Group, says the Gulf and Middle Eastern countries, and their people, are not arenas for settling scores among the great powers
By Waheed Abbas
The UAE billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor on Thursday wrote an open letter to the US President Donald Trump questioning his authority to drag the Gulf and the Middle East into the ongoing military conflict with Iran.
The founder of Al Habtoor Group raised many questions in his open and candid letter, authored in Arabic and shared on the social media platform X, asking Trump whether it was solely his decision to go to war or whether he was influenced by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a post on X, the hotel magnate lambasted the president for not considering collateral damage, although he later told The Post: “I blame Trump, but I blame the Iranians more.”
Open Letter from UAE billionaire Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor:
Mr President Donald Trump,A direct question: who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with #Iran? And on what basis did you make such a dangerous decision?Did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? Did you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation would be the countries of the region?The peoples of this region also have the right to ask: was this your decision alone? Or was it the result of pressure from #Netanyahu and his government?You have placed the countries of the #Gulf_Cooperation_Council and the Arab states at the centre of a danger they did not choose. Thank God we are strong and capable of defending ourselves, and we have armies and defences that protect our homelands. But the question remains: who allowed you to turn our region into a battlefield?Before the ink had even dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we now find ourselves facing military escalation that puts the entire region at risk. Where have those initiatives gone? And what has become of the commitments that were presented in the name of peace?Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, particularly Persian Gulf Arab states that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. These countries have the right today to ask: where has this money gone? Are we funding peace initiatives, or funding a war that puts us in danger?More dangerously, your decision does not only threaten the peoples of the region. It also reaches the American people, whom you promised peace and prosperity. Today they find themselves in a war financed by their own money and taxes. According to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), the cost ranges between $40–65 billion for direct military operations, and could reach $210 billion including economic effects and indirect losses if the conflict continues for four to five weeks. It has even reached the point of sacrificing Americans themselves in a war in which they have no stake.You have also contradicted your promises not to become involved in wars and to focus only on America and place it at the top of your priorities. During your second term you ordered foreign military interventions in seven countries: Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela, in addition to naval operations in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. In your first year in office you authorised more than 658 external airstrikes, equivalent to the total number of strikes carried out during Biden’s entire presidency, despite your criticism that he had entangled the United States in foreign wars.Mr President, these numbers have clearly affected your approval ratings among Americans, which have fallen since the start of your second term, dropping 9% within just 400 days.These figures say something clear: even within the #United_States there is growing concern about being dragged into another war and about exposing American lives, their economy, and their future to unnecessary risks.True leadership is not measured by decisions of war, but by wisdom, respect for others, and efforts to achieve peace. If these initiatives were launched in the name of peace, then we have the right today to demand full transparency and clear accountability.
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