Saudi King Salman reshuffles the power base
Salman's appointment of interior minister as heir and son as the second-in-line to throne conceivably sets ruling succession for decades
By making his nephew 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 possibly set the kingdom's succession in stone for decades and strengthened his branch of the nation's 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 January 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. As well as being appointed defence minister, he has served as royal court chief and head of a committee on the Saudi economy and development.