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 By making Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, crown prince
and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman, 30, deputy crown prince,
King Salman has effectively decided the line of succession for
decades to come in the world's top oil exporter.
Almost all powers under the king are now concentrated in the hands
of the pair, who each chair committees determining all security and
economic development issues in Saudi Arabia, and have led Riyadh's
month-old campaign of air strikes in Yemen.
In another big shift, Salman 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.
Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who replaces Prince Muqrin, the successor
chosen by the late King Abdullah before his death in January, enjoys
closer personal ties with U.S. officials than almost any other
senior royal, diplomats have said.
 The changes come as Saudi Arabia navigates the messy aftermath of
the Arab spring and has departed from decades of backroom politics
with its military intervention in Yemen.
The Yemen move, closely associated with both Prince Mohammeds, is
seen by analysts as reflecting a more assertive approach to Saudi
Arabia's foreign policy under Salman and his ruling team.
"I think we're going to see a more confrontational policy, faster
decision-making and more long-term thinking. A leadership that won't
hesitate from any confrontation," said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi
security analyst with close ties to the kingdom's Interior Ministry.
It follows what many Saudis see as a decade of growing Iranian
influence across the Middle East and a steady disengagement by
Riyadh's historical main strategic partner Washington.
Saudi Arabia also faces long-term domestic challenges, including
entrenched youth unemployment, unsustainable state spending and
tension between religious conservatives and more Western-oriented
liberals.
OIL APPOINTMENTS
The reshuffle also touched the oil sector, hugely sensitive to
financial markets as the world's biggest petroleum exporting country
holds the key to global supplies.
The chief executive of state oil firm Aramco, Khalid al-Falih, was
appointed Health Minister, according to the text of the decree
published on the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television also reported he had been named
chairman of state oil company Saudi Aramco, a position hitherto held
by veteran Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, who remained in his
ministerial post.
The decree as published on SPA did not mention the new role at
Aramco, but oil traders said they were closely monitoring the
situation to see if there would be a new Aramco CEO and whether oil
minister Naimi's position would be affected.
Naimi, who is 79 years old and has been oil minister since 1995, was
seen as crucial in Saudi Arabia’s decision last November not to cut
production in support of crude prices, which have halved since June
2014.
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Analysts said oil policy was not likely to change.
While Mohammed bin Nayef is a familiar figure both inside the
kingdom and in the West for his role in quashing an al Qaeda
uprising and leading Saudi policy in Syria, his successor as second
in line to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman, is comparatively
unknown.
Until four months and six days ago, the young Prince Mohammed had
only served as head of his father's court, was a virtual stranger to
the Saudi public and had had relatively little contact with the
kingdom's foreign partners.
Since then he has become, as Defence Minister, the face of Saudi
Arabia's newly-launched war in Yemen, with his bearded features
rarely off television screens or street billboards, and is now
established as a central figure.
"Mohammed bin Salman can grow into the job under Mohammed bin
Nayef's supervision," Alani said.
The replacement of Prince Muqrin, Salman's youngest half brother, as
crown prince means the present monarch will be the last of the sons
of Saudi Arabia's founder King Abdulaziz Al Saud to rule after five
of his brothers.
It also ends concerns about a line of increasingly frail, aged kings
after Salman, who is 80 this year, replaced the 90 year old
Abdullah.
"We don't want Saudi Arabia to be ruled by one ailing leader after
another," said Jamal Khashoggi, general manager of al-Arab
television station.
The move also solidifies Salman's own branch of the ruling family.
Abdullah's only son in a position of significant power now is Prince
Miteb, who is head of the national guard and was retained in his
post on Wednesday.
The new deputy crown prince, who also serves as head of a top
committee on economy and development, was replaced as royal court
chief on Wednesday by Hamed al-Sweilam, the decree said, possibly to
answer critics who said he had too many jobs.
(Reporting by Sami Aboudi, Mostafa Hashem, Maha El Dahan and Reem
Shamseddine and Henning Gloystein; editing by William Maclean and
Philippa Fletcher)
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