Both councils are headed by the king’s son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose powers, including roles as deputy prime minister and defense minister, were untouched in the overhaul. Adel al-Jubeir, the soft-spoken foreign minister who took over the post in 2015 from the late Prince Saud al-Faisal , was replaced by Ibrahim al-Assaf, formerly a longtime finance minister. Al-Assaf had been serving as a minister of state prior to being named foreign minister. Khashoggi, a critic of the crown prince, was killed and dismembered by a team of Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. The U.S. Senate, however, passed a unanimous resolution saying it believes the crown prince is to blame for the murder.

Source: Huffington Post December 27, 2018 14:15 UTC