Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has named his powerful interior minister as heir in a major reshuffle that also saw the world’s longest-serving foreign minister replaced.
![Prince Nayef headed a crackdown on al-Qaeda a decade ago [AP]](https://www.thenicheng.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Prince-Nayef-headed-a-crackdown-on-al-Qaeda-a-decade-ago-AP.jpg)
A royal decree removed Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud as next in line to the throne and replaced him with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, who headed a crackdown on al-Qaeda in the country a decade ago.
“We have decided to respond to his highness and what he had expressed about his desire to be relieved from the position of crown prince,” said a statement from the royal court, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The decree named “Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince” as well as deputy prime minister and said he would continue in his position of interior minister and head of the political and security council, a coordinating body.
Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Jizan in the country’s south, said the moves represented a major change in Saudi Arabia.
“This is the first time that a grandson of the founder of the country [King Abdulaziz], rather than a son, is appointed crown prince,” our correspondent said.
