in 2013 Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates on 9 February 2006. In 2017, leaked emails highlighted that Abdullah bin Zayed maintained close contacts with UK prime minister
Tony Blair, who was being funded by the UAE as the Middle East peace envoy. Blair held a number of official meetings with the UAE Foreign Minister. The emails also revealed that Abdullah bin Zayed was one of the UAE royals who supported the envoy financially. In 2011, Abdullah's office separately sent
US$2 million to Blair through Windrush Ventures, which channeled money for Tony Blair's commercial advisory work. The
UAE Foreign Ministry also transferred $12 million to Windrush for Blair consultancy work in Colombia, Vietnam and Mongolia. In August 2017, Abdullah urged Iran and Turkey to end what the UAE called their
"colonial" actions in Syria, signaling unease about diminishing Gulf Arab influence in the war, and calling "the exit of those parties trying to reduce the sovereignty of the Syrian state." He added that "if Iran and Turkey continue the same historical, colonial and competitive behavior and perspectives between them in Arab affairs, we will continue in this situation not just in Syria today but tomorrow in some other country." On 14 February 2019, Abdullah said that Israel was justified in attacking Iranian targets in Syria. signing ceremony on 15 September 2020 On 15 September 2020, Abdullah signed the official
Israel–United Arab Emirates peace agreement in a ceremony at the
White House in
Washington, D.C., US. In February 2022, the UAE abstained in a UN Security Council vote to condemn
Russia for invading Ukraine. Abdullah had a call with US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken prior to the UN Security Council vote. In the phone call, Blinken spoke of the "importance of building a strong international response to support Ukrainian sovereignty through the UN Security Council." The Emirati report of the phone call did not include Blinken's statement. On January 7, 2025 while serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs he received
Gideon Sa'ar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Israel, in Abu Dhabi to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries. In March 2026, during the
2026 Iran war, Abdullah told US Secretary of State
Marco Rubio that the UAE is prepared for a war lasting up to nine months. == Other roles ==