Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef has been relieved of his post and replaced by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, a royal decree said on Wednesday (June 21), in a promotion for King Salman's 31-year-old son that confirms him as next ruler of the kingdom.
The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman already oversees a vast portfolio as defense minister and head of an economic council tasked with overhauling the country's economy.
He had previously been second-in-line to the throne as deputy crown prince, though royal watchers had long suspected his rise to power under his father's reign might accelerate his ascension.
The young prince was little known to Saudis and outsiders before Salman became king in January 2015.
A visit to Saudi Arabia by US President Donald Trump in May, when he held talks with the then deputy crown prince, signalled that Mohammed "could be more confrontational", Krieg said. The King also stripped bin Nayef of his function as interior minister. Rights groups say Saudi forces have killed scores of civilians and have called on the US, as well as the United Kingdom and France, to halt the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia that could be used in the Yemen war.
A public pledge of allegiance to the new crown prince is scheduled for Wednesday evening; in a video that was posted shortly after the change was announced, the two princes are seen greeting each other and exchanging pleasantries.
The two countries are bitter regional rivals, and severed diplomatic ties past year.
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Prince Mohammed bin Salman could end up leading Saudi Arabia for decades.
According to a Wednesday royal decree, "a majority" of top royal members of the Allegiance Council backed altering the line of succession, with Saudi Arabia's state TV saying that 31 out of 34 people voted in favor. He also played a central role in the decision to isolate Qatar, in part because of its ties to Iran, and in escalating the Saudi-led war against Yemeni rebels supported by Tehran.
Saudi-U.S. relations had cooled under the Obama administration after Washington pursued a nuclear accord with Shiite-majority Iran that the Sunni-ruled kingdom strongly opposed.
The move left Mohammed bin Nayef as the first of the second generation, or grandsons of the kingdom's founder, Abdul Aziz bin Saud, in line to lead the Islamic kingdom.
A foreign diplomat had told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that Mohammed bin Nayef was politically "getting weaker, more marginalized", after continuous chipping away at his powers and influence.
Iran has called on Saudi Arabia to immediately release three detained Iranians that it says were fishermen but that Saudi authorities say were trying to carry out an attack. The conflicts have deepened Sunni-Shiite enmity between hard-liners on both sides.
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