RUMORS SWIRL AROUND THE SAUDI THRONE.

Unnamed U.S. diplomats are said to be speculating that the Saudi King Salman will abdicate in 2016 in favor of his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the current Defense Minister. . . .

If true, this would be a revolution: the Saudi succession has gone from one septuagenarian to the next in a ritualized pattern for decades. Putting a young and vigorous 30-year-old in the top spot would change the way the country works and, potentially, would make the new king one of the most powerful people in the world.

U.S. officials are clearly hoping this doesn’t happen. The defense minister has been associated with the recent line of Saudi policy that has been shaking up the region, and it is predicated on a belief that, with the U.S. no longer a reliable ally, the Saudis have to take their destiny in their own hands.

Well, you can hardly blame them for feeling that way. Under Obama, the United States has openly sided with Iran.

UPDATE: Related: “It’s not credible that no one in the U.S. Fifth Fleet recognized what a bad idea it was to send two little riverine boats off on their own to transit north of Farsi Island in these circumstances. And yet, it seems that the priority of avoiding a transit through Saudi territorial waters – nominally friendly waters – was higher.”