Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (born 11 March 1961), also known as MBZ or MbZ, is an Emirati royal and politician who has served as the third president of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Abu Dhabi since 2022. He was the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates from 2014 to 2022, ruling for his brother Sheikh Khalifa.

Mohamed completed his education in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, and graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1979. He joined the UAE Armed Forces, and held various posts, before becoming a pilot in the UAE Air Force; he was promoted to general in 2005.

Mohamed is the third son of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first president of the UAE and 16th ruler of Abu Dhabi. Mohamed became the crown prince of Abu Dhabi in 2004, following the death of his father, when his brother, Sheikh Khalifa, became the second president of the UAE, and the ruler of Abu Dhabi. In 2014, Sheikh Khalifa suffered a stroke, and Mohamed became the de facto leader of the UAE. Following Sheikh Khalifa's death in May 2022, Mohamed became the ruler of Abu Dhabi and was elected president of the UAE by the Federal Supreme Council. In March 2023, Mohamed appointed his son Sheikh Khaled as his successor and crown prince of Abu Dhabi.

In 2019, The New York Times named Mohamed as the most powerful Arab ruler, and he was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2019 by Time magazine. He is an opponent of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as of Iran and its proxies in the Middle East. Since he became de facto leader, the UAE participated in the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the Syrian civil war. He also took part in the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war, until a disagreement over Saudi Arabia's support of Al-Islah, a Yemeni party connected with the Muslim Brotherhood, while Mohammed continued to support the Southern Transitional Council. The UAE was a leading actor in the Qatar crisis, in which the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and other Arab countries severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, based on accusations that Qatar supports the Muslim Brotherhood and off-shoot organizations. Intervening in the Sudanese civil war, Mohamed has been the main backer of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).