Dubai steps up security as Iran war rages; financial institutions move staff to remote work

US financial and technology companies are stepping up security and limiting office activity in parts of the Middle East, a day after Iran warned it could target economic centres linked to the United States during the ongoing regional conflict.Citi Bank asked employees to immediately leave its regional headquarters in the Dubai International Financial Centre, according to New York Times. An internal notice cited “heightened security concerns” and advised workers to find “the nearest safe place away from the office.” Standard Chartered also renewed a work-from-home advisory that had already been issued earlier. The bank has a large regional hub in Dubai.In Qatar, HSBC temporarily shut all three of its bank branches. In a statement, the bank said, “The safety of our colleagues and customers remain our top priority.”Technology companies have taken similar measures. According to a Google executive quoted by the Economic Times, “All employees across the region, apart from critical staff responsible for maintaining cloud infrastructure, had been shifted to mandatory work from home, which continues.”The executive added that most global technology firms have moved regional staff to mandatory work-from-home arrangements until further notice. Iran warns US tech firms and banksThe steps follow Iran's public warning that American technology companies and financial institutions could become targets.According to Al Jazeera, the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency published a list of offices and infrastructure run by major US technology companies that it claimed were linked to Israel and used for military purposes.The report described these sites as “Iran’s new targets.” It said the list included cloud infrastructure and other facilities operated by Google, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle.Iran also warned that it could target banks and economic centres connected to the United States and Israel. A spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters said the warning followed what Iran described as an attack on one of its banks. “The enemy left our hands open to targeting economic centres and banks belonging to the United States and the Zionist regime in the region,” the spokesperson said.The official also warned civilians to stay away from such sites. “People of the region should not be within a one-kilometre radius of banks.”