Companies evacuate Dubai financial district after Iran threats

DUBAI

U.S. group Citi, consultancies Deloitte and PwC and other firms in Dubai have closed offices or asked employees to evacuate on March 11 after Iran threatened U.S. and Israel-linked economic assets in the Middle East.

The evacuations at the heart of the Middle East's financial hub come as the Gulf but especially the UAE has borne the brunt of Iran's attacks in response to U.S.-Israeli strikes.

Iran's military threatened on March 11 to attack U.S. and Israeli economic targets in the region, including banks, after overnight attacks reportedly hit an Iranian bank.

Employees were asked to evacuate Citi offices in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) and in Oud Metha, a source with knowledge of the evacuations told AFP.

British consulting group PwC will close offices in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait for the remainder of the week as a "precaution," a second source with knowledge told AFP.

Deloitte, another British consultancy, told its staff to vacate their DIFC offices on Wednesday afternoon, a third source with knowledge told AFP.

Employees at two other companies in DIFC told AFP their offices had been evacuated as a precaution.