Saudi security forces on Friday foiled a suicide attack on the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, cornering the would-be attacker in an apartment, where he blew himself up.

Saudi Arabian police foiled a "terrorist action" against Islam's holiest site on Friday, where millions of faithful from around the world have gathered, the state Al-Ekhbaria news channel said.

The elevation of Mohammed bin Salman as Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has ended two years of speculation about a behind-the-scenes rivalry near the pinnacle of royal power, but he still has to win over powerful relatives, clerics and tribesmen.

Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa held a phone call with Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud congratulating him on his appointment as Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa today sent a congratulatory cable to the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, congratulating him on the choice of Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud as the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, as well as his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister.

Saudi Arabia's highest religious body, the Council of Senior Scholars, welcomed the choice of Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, the Saudi Press Agency said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman has called for a public pledging of allegiance in Mecca on Wednesday to Prince Mohammed bin Salman who has been promoted to crown prince, Saudi-owned channel al-Arabiya said on Wednesday.

Iranian state media on Wednesday called the appointment of Mohammed Bin Salman to the position of crown prince and successor to Saudi Arabia's King Salman as a "soft coup".

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has been relieved of his post and replaced by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a royal decree said on Wednesday, in a promotion for King Salman's 31-year-old son that confirms him as next ruler of the kingdom.

The Saudi journalist and host at Qatar’s Al-Jazeera Channel, announced his resignation.

Qatar's attorney general said on Tuesday his country has evidence that the hacking of Qatar's state news agency was linked to countries that have severed ties with Doha.

Two years after launching headfirst into a conflict in Yemen that has no end in sight, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have astonished the world again, this time with a severe boycott of neighboring Qatar.

An Iranian ministry of interior official said on Monday that Saudi Arabia's claim that it had detained three members of the Iranian military was not correct, according to a report by the Young Journalists Club news site.

The Saudi navy has captured three members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from a boat seized last week as it approached the kingdom's offshore Marjan oilfield, the Saudi information ministry said on Monday.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia condemned Diraz blast, which the Ministry of Interior said it targeted its members and killed at least one policeman.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi headed on Monday to Saudi Arabia, the first leg of a Middle East tour that will also include Iran and Kuwait, in a diplomatic effort to foster regional reconciliation, his office said.

Ambassadors of Bahrain, the Emirates, Egypt and the Charge D’Affaires of Saudi Arabia to Seoul met Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs of Republic of Korea, Ambassador Lee Jeong Kyu at the premises of the Korean Foreign Ministry.

A Saudi Arabian cleric placed by Riyadh and its allies on a blacklist of people they call terrorists linked to Qatar said he survived assassination by a suicide bomber in Syria on Friday.

A Qatari official accused Saudi Arabia and its allies Friday of imposing a "siege" on his country with sanctions he said were having a more devastating effect than the Berlin Wall.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Friday the four Arab states that broke ties with Doha were drawing up a list of "grievances," and would present them soon, warning that Qatar could not fund extremism and remain on good terms with neighboring states.