Mohammed bin Salman
Mohammed bin Salman has been Crown Prince and effective ruler of Saudi Arabia since 2017, and prime minister since 2022, having concentrated power more completely than any Saudi figure since the kingdom's founder. Born in Riyadh in 1985, a son of King Salman by his third wife, he studied law at King Saud University and, unusually for a senior royal, was educated entirely in the kingdom. He became defence minister in January 2015 when his father acceded, aged twenty-nine, and displaced his cousin Muhammad bin Nayef as crown prince in June 2017. In November that year he detained several hundred princes, ministers and businessmen at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh in what was presented as an anti-corruption drive and produced settlements reported at around a hundred billion dollars. His Vision 2030 programme aims to reduce dependence on oil through tourism, entertainment, mining and enormous construction projects, chief among them the linear city Neom. He opened cinemas, permitted women to drive from June 2018, curtailed the religious police, and allowed mixed public entertainment — genuine social liberalisation, delivered without any political opening. Several of the women who had campaigned for the driving reform were imprisoned as it took effect. He launched the intervention in Yemen in 2015, which produced one of the worst humanitarian crises of the period. In October 2018 the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul; US intelligence concluded that Mohammed had approved the operation, which he denies while accepting responsibility as leader. He has since restored relations with Iran through Chinese mediation in 2023, wound down the Yemen war, and drawn foreign investment while positioning the kingdom between Washington and Beijing.
- Lived: 1985 CE – ?
- Nationality: Saudi Arabian
- Roles: Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia (2017/2022-present)
