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Crown Prince Sultan
Crown Prince Sultan died in his 80s as he was treating a cancer condition in an American clinic in New York, and his body was brought to the capital of the country, where it is to be buried according to the Muslim tradition.
The demise of Sultan opens the discussion of succession to the throne at a time when the reforming King Abdullah may agree to leave the decision, which is usually made by the King himself, to the Allegiance Council, which is formed by members of the royal family.
Analysts believe that the one with the greatest chances of becoming the new successor to the crown is Prince Nayef, who has been an interior minister since 1975, and is viewed as a conservative, as compared to the King Abdullah, who has implemented many reforms during his reign, especially social reforms like the ones related to the rights of the women to participate in the elections, which he implemented a few weeks ago.
It is believed that the nomination of Prince Nayef as the Crown Prince would increase tensions between the reformist and the conservative wings of the country.
Reuters cites Saudi sources that say that there are more candidates to become the next in line to the throne: Prince Khaled bin Sultan, son to Crown Prince Sultan who has been deputy defense minister for 10 years, or Riyadh Governor Prince Salman, considered the next most senior royal after the King and Nayef.
People of Saudi Arabia are quoted by Reuters to say that young blood is needed in power so that the situation may not repeat itself in a few years.
The change of succession line is not expected to affect in any way the strategic relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia or its foreign policy in some aspect.
It is possible however that a reshuffle of the cabinet be made, considering that the late Crown Prince Sultan was a minister of defense, in which capacity he spent multi-billion dollars to strengthen the Saudi forces and ensure a good alliance with the Western countries.
The body of the deceased prince was brought to Saudi Arabia on Monday and prayers will be said for him in the mosques throughout the Saudi Arabian kingdom.
Foreign dignitaries came to pay their respects and to show support for the royal family of the Islamic kingdom. The United States sent Vice President Joe Biden, the Middle Eastern nations sent foreign ministers and the Gulf and European royal houses sent members as representatives.
Saudi Arabia holds a special place in the Muslim world as it is important both economically and spiritually. It is in Saudi Arabia that the most significant amount of oil is located and it is also in Saudi Arabia that the holiest places of Islam are: Mecca and Medina.
The monarchy is in an economic and religious rivalry with Iran, as Iran is itself a major oil producer and the most important representative of the Shiite form of Islam.
The rivalry was within acceptable parameters until last week, when the American authorities have announced that they had thwarted an assassination attack plot on the ambassador of the Saudi kingdom.
The man who was accused of this plan pleaded not guilty in a trial that started in the United States on Monday.
The American law enforcement agencies said that by the way the action was conceived and carried out, it is possible that the higher levels of authority in Iran may not have been informed about it.
The spiritual leader of Iran, the ayatollah Khamenei, dismissed the accusation as a “lie,” which is similar to what president of Iran said in an interview, when he said that there was no need to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador, that a serious plot is not conceived like this and that it was an American elaborate “lie” intended to seed distrust between the two countries in the Middle East. The United States demanded the UN that Iran be sanctioned for this.
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