New Delhi, Feb. 9 -- 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.

Khamenei has joined the annual session every year since taking leadership in 1989 -- even through the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a report by Iran International.

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 a...