Israeli officials targeted Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, in an airstrike in Bandar Abbas, Iran. Several media outlets reported on Thursday that an Israeli official claimed he was killed during a military operation.
Tangsiri was appointed as commander in 2018 and was the mastermind behind ordering the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The city in which he was reportedly killed is a key Iranian port located near the Strait.
It was unclear as to whether Tangsiri survived the military operation conducted by Israel or the United States, according to The Jerusalem Post. As of Wednesday morning, neither Iran nor Israel Defense Forces officially confirmed Tangsiri’s death, despite multiple sources reporting he was killed. He was reportedly in a hide-out in an apartment during the airstrikes, according to two officials, according to the New York Times.
In addition to approving the closure of the Strait, Tangsiri had implemented proactive military strategies in the conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States. Earlier in March, he warned civilians residing near U.S. oil facilities in the Middle East to vacate the areas and that such locations throughout the region were viable targets and would “come under fire with full force.”
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“Our list of targets is updated,” said Tangsiri. “Oil facilities associated with America are now on par with American bases and will come under fire with full force.”
His most recent public communications on his X account boasted about denying a container vessel access to travel through the Strait of Hormuz. It was posted on March 24.
“The passage of any vessel through this waterway requires full coordination with Iran’s maritime authority, and this achievement would not have been possible without the backing of the noble people of Iran,” Tangsiri said in his last post on his account.
Tangsiri would be the latest prominent Iranian leader to be killed in airstrikes in March if claims of his death are true. Previously, noteworthy Iranians who were killed in airstrikes were Esmaeil Khatib, Iran’s top intelligence officer; Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s National Security Council; Ali Mohammad Naini, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman and deputy of public relations; and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Basij unit.
