Mohammed bin Salman

Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (born 31 August 1985), also known as MbS, is the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formally serving as Crown Prince and Prime Minister. He is the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, the son of King Salman, and the grandson of the nation's founder, Ibn Saud. Mohammed is the first child of King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his third wife, Fahda bint Falah Al Hithlain. After obtaining a law degree from King Saud University, he became an advisor to his father in 2009. He was appointed deputy crown prince and defence minister after his father became king in 2015, then promoted to crown prince in 2017. Mohammed succeeded his father as prime minister in 2022. Since his appointment as crown prince in 2017, Mohammed has introduced a series of liberal social and economic reforms; these include curtailing the influence of the Wahhabi religious establishment by restricting the powers of the religious police and improving women's rights, removing the ban on female drivers in 2018, and weakening the male-guardianship system in 2019. His government has continued to imprison women's rights activists on terrorism charges. His Saudi Vision 2030 programme aims to reduce the Saudi economy's reliance on oil through investment in other sectors such as technology, tourism, sport, and the failed megaproject Neom; the economy remains heavily reliant on oil. Under Mohammed, Saudi Arabia has pursued a foreign policy aimed at increasing the country's regional and international influence and attracting greater foreign investment. The Kingdom has coordinated energy policy with Russia, strengthened its relations with China, became a major non-NATO ally of the United States, and expanded diplomatic and commercial relations with emerging economies and regional powers in Africa, South America, and Asia. Mohammed was the architect of the Saudi-led intervention in...