King Salman Fires Foreign Minister Only after 10 Months

Bin Farhan had served as the Saudi ambassador to Germany for the last few months and earlier as political adviser at the Washington embassy.

He also served as an adviser to King Salman’s son, the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The new minister will take over from Ibrahim al-Assaf, who was demoted to the minister of state.

The outgoing minister had replaced Adel al-Jubeir in December 2018 in a surprising replacement, as he was among dozens of prominent Saudi royals and businessmen detained in Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton in November, 2017, in an “anti-corruption” sweep.

At the time, his appointment was widely seen as an effort to improve the kingdom's image after the crisis caused by the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saleh al-Jasser, the director-general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, was named transport minister in place of Nabil al-Amoudi, whose sacking comes a few weeks after a fire engulfed a railway station in Jeddah that was inaugurated by the king last year. The reshuffle follows several government appointments in recent weeks.

Khalid al-Falih, the veteran energy minister, was replaced by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, a son of the king, last month. A new minister for industry and mineral resources as well as a new royal court chief were named a few weeks earlier.