Israel claimed on Thursday that its army has assassinated the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy. Alireza Tangsiri, one of Tehran’s most senior and combative military figures, was killed in an Israeli strike on the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Tangsiri, who had commanded the IRGC Navy since 2018, was also the architect of Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said. He was taken down in a “precise and deadly” attack, according to a statement from Katz’s office. Tangsiri was killed when an Israeli missile struck an apartment hideout where he was sheltering alongside other Revolutionary Guard members, officials told The New York Times.
Tangsiri is the latest senior Iranian official eliminated since Israel and the United States launched coordinated military strikes against Iran on February 28.
Who was Alireza Tangsiri?
Appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tangsiri was among Iran’s most hardline military commanders. A veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, he rose through the ranks building a reputation for aggressive maritime tactics and open hostility toward the United States and its allies. His tenure as IRGC Navy chief was defined by brinkmanship, threatening Western naval forces, backing the detention of foreign sailors in Iranian waters and expanding Iran’s drone and cruise missile capabilities in the Gulf, multiple reports stated.
According to NYT, the US Treasury sanctioned him twice, in 2019 and again in 2023, citing his oversight of the naval force’s weapons testing programme. In recent weeks, Tangsiri had posted repeatedly on social media about Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks carried out by the IRGC’s naval units. Israeli officials stated he was “directly responsible” for ordering the Strait’s closure.
Tangsiri had for months framed Iran’s naval posture as defensive, insisting Tehran sought regional security.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical energy corridors, through which a significant share of global oil and gas supplies passes daily. Its closure has sent shockwaves through international energy markets and drawn warnings from major world powers.