King Salman, by royal decree, dismissed his 57-year-old nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, who had been crown prince for a little over two years, and elevated his own 31-year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, to the position.
It said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a counter-terrorism chief admired in Washington for putting down an al-Qaida campaign of bombings in 2003-06, was relieved of all positions.
Mohammed bin Nayef was once a towering figure credited with crushing al-Qaida's cells in Saudi Arabia. Still, with power will come the responsibility for what goes wrong, said Kamel, and "that part is going to be fundamentally different".
With the anointment of Prince Mohammed bin Salman as heir to the Saudi throne, any doubts over the continuation of policies that have shaken up the Middle East have gone.
Prince Salman visited the US in March, where he had lunch at the White House with US President Donald Trump.
Mohammed Bin Salman obtained a law degree from King Saud University.
The young prince is often charming in person, but analysts say his rapid rise has also created friction within the ruling family and made Saudi policy less predictable than in recent decades. Predictably, after militant attacks this month in Teheran, Iran's Revolutionary Guard blamed Saudi Arabia and pledged to retaliate.
The move reflects Mohammed's "calling the shots" in the kingdom, said Andreas Krieg of the Defence Studies Department at King's College London.
The newly-minted crown prince has also used fighting words to describe Iran, vowing to take "the battle" to the Shiite-ruled country.
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For the younger generation of Saudi's, the young royal, who is known for his bold economic reforms and aggressive foreign policy toward arch-rival Iran, confirms that things are changing.
"I think that matters", Wehrey said.
Iran's state media on June 21 called the prince's designation as the next Saudi ruler a "soft coup".
As minister, Mohammed bin Salman has spearheaded the Saudi-led war in Yemen. His appointment "is purely about demonstrating a degree of certainty in times of uncertainty", Krieg added.
These include the relations with Qatar, a military intervention that has continued for more than two years in Yemen, an economy adjusting to the loss of oil revenue, and attempts at social reform in a deeply conservative Islamic nation.
In a royal decree early Wednesday, Salman placed his son, Mohammed, 31, as first in line to the throne.
"Exactly this way...they know who Iran is", Katz said. "We expect to see continued support of OPEC's goals of reducing inventories and re-balancing of market".
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain have prepared a list of demands to submit to Qatar in an effort to defuse ongoing tensions.
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