For the first time in 37 years, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly skipped an important military meeting on Monday. According to reports, the Supreme Leader did not meet the Iranian Army Air Force on the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
The annual meeting marks the anniversary of February 8, 1979, when a group of Air Force officers pledged their allegiance to Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic and Khamenei’s predecessor. (Reuters)According to a report by UK-based Iran International, Iran’s air force, which has traditionally sworn allegiance to the supreme leader every February since the Islamic Revolution, met with the supreme leader’s grandson Hassan Khomeini on Sunday.
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The meeting with Hassan comes after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei did not hold an annual meeting for the first time in 37 years.
The annual meeting marks the anniversary of February 8, 1979, when a group of Air Force officers pledged their allegiance to Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic and Khamenei’s predecessor.
Since then, Air Force personnel and commanders have met at the Supreme Court on the same date every year.
Tensions are rising with the USThe drop comes amid rising tensions with the United States over a violent crackdown on protesters across Iran. Since the last week of December, thousands of Iranian citizens have marched in the streets calling for regime change and protesting the economic conditions in the Islamic Republic.
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Rising inflation and the rapid decline of the Iranian rial fueled the protest and later turned into a full-blown call for regime change. Iran denies this and says the protests were started by agents planted by the CIA (US) and Mossad (Israel).
In response to the protests, the Iranian government launched a violent crackdown across its 31 provinces, resulting in more than 3,000 deaths and several arrests.
Amid the crackdown, US President Donald Trump has warned Ayatollah Khamenei of possible US intervention if violence against protesters does not stop. Trump’s comments come amid a US military operation in Venezuela that has led to the imprisonment of current President Nicolas Maduro.
