Mohammed bin Nayef, the deposed Saudi prince, has been reportedly on palace arrest since Mohammed bin Salman replaced him last week as the crown prince.
Mohammed bin Nayef, 57, had been Saudi Arabia's most influential security officer over the past 15 years and has kept close intelligence connections with the United States and United Kingdom, The Guardian reported.
The Saudis had hoped to show a seamless transfer of power but one Saudi official said trust had eroded because of the rivalry between the two men, noted The Guardian.
"It was never daggers drawn," the Saudi official told The Guardian. "It was that a younger man wanted the job and the older man didn't like it. Things never broke down, but it became clear that the king's son had the profile and status that the crown prince should have had. Everyone could see that."
The New York Times reported that Mohammed bin Nayef was barred from leaving the his palace in the coastal city of Jidda, according to four current and former American officials and Saudis close to the Saudi royal family. The move was made to limit opposition to Mohammed bin Salman, 31.
The Times wrote, though, that a senior Saudi foreign ministry official pushed back on the reported confinement of Mohammed bin Nayef as "baseless and false."
One Saudi official told Reuters that Mohammed bin Nayef continued to host guests and there were no restrictions on his or his family's movements.
Mohammed bin Nayef had been praised in Washington for quashing an al-Qaida insurgency in Saudi Arabia from 2003 to 2006, but was relieved of all his duties a week ago, the news agency said.
Reuters reported that Mohammed bin Salman's promotion concluded two years of speculation about a rivalry near the pinnacle of royal power, but analysts said he still has to win the loyalty of powerful relatives, clerics, and tribesmen.
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