RIYADH, June 18: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah on Monday issued a royal decree naming his half-brother Prince Salman as heir to the throne following the death of Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz.

The king appointed Prince Salman “crown prince and deputy prime minister” while also keeping him on as defence minister, said the decree published by the state news agency SPA.

In a simultaneous decree, he promoted Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz to take over as interior minister, the SPA said.

Prince Salman, 76, became defence minister in October following the death of Prince Sultan, the then crown prince and long-serving defence and aviation minister, while Prince Nayef was named heir to the throne.

It was the first ministerial post for Prince Salman who had been the governor of Riyadh for around 50 years.

Prince Nayef, who was also interior minister for 37 years, died on Saturday in Switzerland of “cardiac problems,” a medical source in Geneva said.

By appointing Prince Salman, King Abdullah is following the tradition of keeping top posts in the hands of the first generation of the sons of Abdul Aziz, founder of the kingdom.

King Abdullah in 2006 established the Allegiance Council, a commission of 35 senior princes, as a new mechanism to name heirs to the throne of the Gulf oil powerhouse in the long term.

But the royal decree showed on Monday that he had taken his decision “after consulting the law of allegiance” without any reference to debating his choice in the council.

He did the same when he named Prince Nayef crown prince, since the new system of selecting an heir is not supposed to come into force during King Abdullah’s reign.

Prince Ahmed has served as deputy interior minister since 1975.—AFP