Lindsey Graham meets MBZ as US ‘armada’ builds in Middle East

The US senator has met with the Emirati president as the largest US military presence in the region in decades continues to grow

Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met US Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, the senator said in a post on X. It comes as the biggest US ‘armada’ in decades builds in the Middle East.

As US and Iranian representatives met in Geneva on Tuesday, a steady flow of American refueling tankers, electronic warfare aircraft, and fighter jets crossed the Atlantic, stopping at bases in the UK and Germany on their way to the Middle East. The nuclear-powered USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed in the Persian Gulf since January and is expected to be joined soon by the USS Gerald R. Ford, currently sailing toward the Strait of Gibraltar.

In his X post, Graham also criticized what he called “false narratives” circulating about the UAE and its leader. Earlier this week, social media speculation about the health of the sheikh, also known as MBZ, had surged after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan postponed a planned visit to Abu Dhabi. His office announced the reason as a “health problem” before deleting the message.

Graham said he met the UAE president for an hour and a half and dismissed those “perpetuating false narratives against the United Arab Emirates and President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed” as “full of it.”

According to Emirati News Agency (WAM), Graham and Al Nahyan discussed regional developments and efforts to promote peace in the Middle East.

The visit also comes in the middle of a growing rift between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which find themselves on different sides of the Yemen conflict. Earlier in December, clashes erupted between forces aligned with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council and fighters loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government. The confrontations exposed deep divisions within the anti-Houthi coalition and underscored competing agendas in southern Yemen.