Trump Raked in $28 Million From Middle East Business Deals. Then He Started a War.

The president’s Persian Gulf real estate projects are worth roughly $17 billion.

Eric Trump attends Trump Tower launch

Eric Trump attends the launch of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Dubai.Nicolas Briquet/SOPA Images/Sipa USA/AP

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Donald Trump is betting big on Oman. Since September 2024, the president has been developing a grand project in the Middle Eastern sultanate—a sprawling golf course, a hotel, and seaside villas—all perched over the shimmering Gulf of Oman. A livestream of the site shows a sun-drenched stretch of water, edged by brown desert rock outcroppings, where it’s easy to imagine minimalist boxy units, cantilevered 400 feet above the sea, starting at just $1 million.

Built by Saudi real estate developer Dar Global on land provided by the Omani government outside its capital city of Muscat, all those seaside views and quiet luxury could be a gold mine for the US president. In 2024, he earned $1 million in licensing fees from the deal. The project’s website boasts of its “ideal location.” It offers “easy access” to the Persian Gulf, which sits just a few hundred miles to the northwest via the Strait of Hormuz. Oman, the website notes, is “one of the safest countries in the world.”

Fast-forward to March 2. Two days after Trump and his Israeli allies launched a surprise attack on Iran, Iranian drones struck an oil tanker about 90 miles offshore from the resort’s proposed location. It wasn’t exactly close, but it was closer than most luxury investors would probably be comfortable with—and it’s a reminder that Muscat is separated from Iran by a gulf that is 210 miles at its widest.

In the weeks that followed, shipping through the Straight of Hormuz ground to a near standstill. The war disrupted the world economy, Trump’s political fortunes, and, potentially, his vast Middle Eastern business interests.

These interests extend far beyond Oman. Trump has signed deals to build golf resorts, condos, and hotels throughout the Arabian Peninsula. According to his latest financial disclosure, Trump pulled in $28.1 million in revenue from partners across the region in 2024. Trump-connected projects now being developed there have a combined value of roughly $17 billion—with the bulk of that funding coming from sovereign wealth funds and various other Trump business partners. On a certain level—not, arguably, an ethical one—it made sense. The Gulf economies have been booming, with money flowing freely. Unlike other parts of the world, the region’s rulers have been very open to partnering with the American president’s personal businesses.

Since the war began, though, every one of those Gulf countries has come under Iranian fire, and the area’s economic prospects—long reliant on a reputation for prosperity, safety, and stability—have been flipped upside down. Just how upside down is a sensitive subject. Governments around the Persian Gulf have clamped down hard on the spreading of photos and video of Iranian attacks on the glittering towers and lavish beach-front properties that have made the region a luxury destination. And while this week’s fragile ceasefire brought a respite from missile and drone strikes, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

Trumpian projects like the Omani resort would, in theory, motivate the president to pursue peace and stability. But it also puts his own personal interests firmly in the middle of a foreign policy crisis. Here’s a tour of Trump’s business dealings in the suddenly war-torn region:

Trump Golf Dubai

Trump has been involved with the Emirati real estate developer Hussain Sajwani since 2013 when they agreed to build luxury villas and a golf course together. The property—located in the United Arab Emirates’ largest city—opened in 2017, and Sajwani and his family have been staunch allies of Trump ever since. Trump even bragged that in the days before his first inauguration, Sajwani offered him a $2 billion deal. The developer took the stage with Trump at his 2025 inaugural celebration rally.

Between 2014 and 2024, Sajwani paid Trump between $14.1 million and $30 million in licensing and management fees for the operation of the Trump-branded golf course, according to personal financial disclosures filed by Trump.

In early March, an Iranian drone struck the Al Minhad airbase, located between two Sajwani properties, including the Trump-branded golf course. An Iranian drone attack also struck an apartment complex just beyond the Trump golf course on March 1.

Trump International Hotel & Tower, Dubai

Trump is teaming up with Dar Global—the same Saudi developer spearheading the Oman hotel—on a proposed 80-story tower. The project, announced last April, is slated to cost $1 billion; it will include $20 million penthouses and what the developers say will be the world’s highest swimming pool. It will be centrally located near the Burj Khalifa, along Dubai’s main drag into its downtown. That’s been a prime area for Iranian attacks—on Feb. 28, a drone struck the nearby Fairmont Hotel, causing a fiery explosion that Dubai authorities rushed to cover up, urging people not to watch a video of the damage. Local activists told Bellingcat that at least five people were confirmed by the British embassy as having been arrested for documenting the strike.

Saudi Arabia

Trump has three different projects slated for Saudi Arabia—one in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and two in the western city of Jeddah. The three projects have an estimated combined price tag of $10 billion.

In Riyadh—where Iranian missile strikes have landed, including at the American embassy—Trump is planning a large luxury mansion development and golf course, dubbed Wadi Safa. In Jeddah, which is the gateway city for travelers making the traditional Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Trump has agreed to build two multi-use projects, Trump Plaza and Trump Tower.

Saudi’s defacto monarch, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was one of the world leaders most supportive of Trump’s war against on Iran, including arguing that Trump should send US troops into Iran.

Trump International Doha

Trump has worked closely with Qatar’s royal family, which often is at odds with its neighbors in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He accepted a jet from the Qataris, and last year he signed a deal to build a sprawling golf resort along Qatar’s Persian Gulf shoreline. Estimated to be worth $7 billion, the resort isn’t in the area of Qatar that has been targeted by Iranian strikes. But in a country about the size of Connecticut, nothing is especially far from the war.

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