Saudi King Salman reshuffles succession
RIYADH — Saudi King Salman appointed Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef as his new heir on Wednesday and made his son, Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, second-in-line to succeed in a dramatic reshuffle in the world’s top oil exporter.
By making Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, crown prince, and Mohammed bin Salman, who is thought to be in his early 30s, deputy crown prince, the Saudi monarch has set the kingdom’s succession in stone for decades and strengthened his branch of the dynasty.
He also replaced veteran Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who had served in the role since October 1975, with the kingdom’s Washington ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, the first non-royal to hold the post.
The changes come at a moment of unprecedented regional turmoil, as Saudi Arabia navigates the messy aftermath of the Arab Spring and has departed from decades of backroom politics by launching a military campaign in Yemen.
In a decree published by state media, King Salman said the decision to replace his half-brother Prince Muqrin with Mohammed bin Nayef as his heir and to make his own son deputy crown prince had been approved by a majority of the family’s Allegiance Council.
Salman succeeded his late brother King Abdullah, who died on Jan. 23.
The new crown prince has been interior minister since 2012, and headed the kingdom’s security forces for a decade before that, a period in which he crushed an al Qaeda uprising in Saudi Arabia and developed close ties with the United States.
Mohammed bin Salman, the new deputy crown prince, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the ruling family’s power elite, moving from a job as head of his father’s personal court to become the third most senior man in Saudi Arabia. —