RIYADH, DEC 29 (DNA) – Saudi Arabia’s new foreign minister struck a note of defiance Friday in the face of international outrage over critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, denying the kingdom was in crisis and that his predecessor had been demoted.

Ibrahim al-Assaf, a former veteran finance minister who was briefly detained last year in what Riyadh said was an anti-corruption sweep, replaced Adel al-Jubeir as foreign minister in a major government shake-up on Thursday ordered by King Salman.

Assaf insisted the restructuring was motivated not by the Khashoggi affair, but the need to make the government machinery more efficient.

“The issue of Jamal Khashoggi… really saddened us, all of us,” Assaf told at his residence in Riyadh.

“But all in all, we are not going through a crisis, we are going through a transformation,” he added, referring to social and economic reforms spearheaded by the crown prince.