United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has made his first public appearance in a high-level meeting with US Senator Lindsey Graham, following widespread online speculation regarding his health triggered by a now-deleted statement from the Turkish presidency.
Earlier this month, Recep Tayyip Erdogan travelled to Saudi Arabia and was expected to visit the neighbouring UAE amid an ongoing diplomatic rift between the two Gulf nations.
However, on Sunday, Erdogan announced that he was postponing his planned visit to Abu Dhabi, citing a “health problem” concerning the Emirati leader - a remark that was later removed from the official statement.
The development sparked a wave of rumours across social media platforms regarding Sheikh Mohamed’s well-being, with his Wikipedia page briefly edited to falsely claim that he had passed away.
On Wednesday, the UAE Presidential Court released video footage showing the Emirati president smiling during a meeting with Senator Graham at Qasr Al Shati in Abu Dhabi. The country’s official news agency, Emirates News Agency, also published photographs from the meeting.
In addition, the president’s office shared images on Saturday evening showing Sheikh Mohamed - widely known as MBZ - in apparent good health alongside Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar.
Following the meeting, Senator Graham stated on social media platform X that he had held a 90-minute discussion with the UAE president and dismissed those spreading false narratives about Sheikh Mohamed’s health as baseless.
