With intensifying US military expansion in the Gulf, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly ended his 37-year-old practice by skipping the yearly 8 February meeting with air force generals. The yearly meeting commemorates the anniversary of 8 February 1979, when a cohort of air force officers swore loyalty to Ruhollah Khomeini to topple the Pahlavi monarchy. Khomeini was the founder of the Islamic Republic and Khamenei's predecessor as Supreme Leader. Throughout the subsequent four decades, the date became a symbolic ritual, with air force staff and superiors meeting Iran's clerical elite on that same date each year. “Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly — as they should,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Source: Mint February 09, 2026 13:12 UTC