Alsudania News – Gafar Elsabkey
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham met today with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during an official visit. Following the meeting, Graham published an extensive post on the social media platform X, outlining the substance of the discussion and expressing his views on the UAE’s role in the region.
In his post, Graham criticized what he described as “false narratives” being promoted against the UAE and its president, stating bluntly that those advancing such claims “are lying.” He said he met with Mohammed bin Zayed for approximately an hour and a half and found him to be “not only alive, but in good health and sharper than ever.”
Graham added that attacks on the UAE and its leadership for “doing the right thing” are misguided and warned that those pursuing such criticism do so “at their own peril.”
The senator described the meeting as “very enjoyable and extremely productive,” noting that both sides discussed what he called a “historic moment” facing the region. He praised Mohammed bin Zayed’s leadership and vision in building what he characterized as a modern Islamic state integrated into the global community in a way that benefits both the people of the UAE and its international partners.
Our meeting today was very enjoyable and informative. We discussed the historic moment that is facing the region. I told him how much I appreciated his courage and vision to create an Islamic country that can be integrated into the world in a win-win fashion, both for the people of the UAE and for those who visit and do business with the country.
However, there are other voices in Islam that have the darkest vision of mankind. Those voices are distinctly in the minority, in my view.
MbZ’s decision to embrace the Abraham Accords and to modernize his country while still maintaining the faith is the biggest change in the Middle East in my lifetime. What the United Arab Emirates have done to try to integrate the region with the whole world is one of the bravest and most consequential decisions any Middle Eastern leader has made. I was very candid with MbZ that he cannot do this by himself. Other people in the region have to buy-in to what’s happening with the UAE, not just be casual observers.
To the region: Understand that history is about to be made. President Trump wants a region that looks more like the UAE and less like the Ayatollah. The region can only move forward if it follows the vision that embraces the light instead of going backwards into the darkness. The UAE’s vision for the Middle East and the 2030 vision previously expressed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is something I would fully embrace because it would be great for South Carolina, and great for America.
The forces that are merging here recently are trying to undercut the movement toward the light. They are going back to the old way of doing business, playing cheap politics. Your actions have not gone unnoticed by me or others. If this continues, it will do enormous damage to the best opportunity I’ve seen in hundreds of years to change the Middle East for the better.
Finally, to those who believe that the region still flourishes if the ayatollah’s regime survives, I could not disagree more. If this religious Nazi regime in Iran still stands after all this bluster and the people are shut out and continue to be oppressed, it puts everything we’ve worked for at risk, including the Abraham Accords.
Now, I am off to Saudi Arabia where I look forward to meeting with the Crown Prince who has shown a lot of courage and wisdom and has embraced, in the past, a vision that will forever change the Middle East for the better.
