IRGC commander-in-chief Major General Hossein Salami (L) alongside Navy Commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, talking to a reporter during the unveiling of the Qadr-380 naval cruise missile in an undisclosed location in Iran. (Credit: Sepah News / AFP)
Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike had killed Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' (IRGC) navy, claiming he was “directly responsible for the terrorist act of bombing and blocking the Strait of Hormuz.”
“This is a clear message to all senior officials of the Iranian terrorist organization, the Revolutionary Guards, who currently control Iran: the Israeli army will hunt you down and eliminate you one by one,” Katz said.
Later in the day, the Israeli army confirmed that it had killed Tangsiri in a strike on Bandar Abbas, along with Behnam Rezaei, head of the IRGC navy’s intelligence service. Tangsiri was described as having led the naval forces of the Revolutionary Guards for the past eight years.
According to a statement by the army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, Tangsiri held several key positions within the naval branch and oversaw “maritime operations,” including coordinating “Iranian military activities in the Gulf.” He was accused of “orchestrating attacks on oil tankers and commercial vessels” and “threatening freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and in international waters.”
The statement added that during the “Lion's roar” operation, he had overseen the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and supported naval operations that contributed to disrupting the global economy. He was also under international sanctions for his alleged involvement in operations against vessels in international waters, as well as in the transfer of air defense systems and drones to Russia and Syria.
'Key naval intelligence figure' eliminated
The head of the naval forces’ intelligence service, Rezaei, who was also killed, had reportedly held the post for several years and was considered a central figure in naval intelligence, notably responsible for gathering information on countries in the region and coordinating cooperation with various intelligence services, according to the Israeli army.
Commenting on the killing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it “constitutes another example of cooperation” between Tel Aviv and Washington in achieving their “shared objectives” in the war against Iran.
Separately, as Israel continues its strike campaign on Iran, it reportedly removed Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf from its target list following a Pakistani intervention with Washington, a Pakistani official told Reuters. “The Israelis had their coordinates and wanted to eliminate them. We told the United States that if they were also killed, there would be no one left to talk to. The United States therefore asked the Israelis to step back,” the official said.
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