IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri Responsible for Hormuz Blockade Killed, Claims Israeli Media

New Delhi: The naval commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Alireza Tangsiri, has died in a U.S.-Israeli attack in Bandar Abbas, Israeli media claimed, referencing an Israeli official.

Tangsiri, who commanded the naval division of Iran’s influential Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was said to have been killed in an attack in the port city of Bandar Abbas. The official stated that Commodore Tangsiri was in charge of managing the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Alireza Tangsiri, originating from Bushehr Province in southern Iran, advanced within the IRGC Navy following his service in the Iran-Iraq War and the so-called Tanker Wars, which marked the United States's initial confrontation with Iran in the 1980s.

Tangsiri subsequently commanded the IRGC Navy’s 1st Naval District in Bandar Abbas and held the position of deputy commander from 2010 to 2018, prior to becoming the chief of the force.

Tangsiri’s reported demise contributes to an increasing tally of high-ranking Iranian officials killed since the conflict commenced on February 28, when the US and Israel executed synchronized military attacks on Iran.

According to a report from the Times of Israel, Tangsiri was accountable for the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. No statements have been made so far by Iran or the Israeli military regarding the strike.

Tangsiri was among the rare prominent figures who had evaded US-Israeli assassination efforts thus far. A seasoned leader who has held his position since 2018, he has been instrumental in Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz

This comes just after the IRGC and the Iranian Army conducted multiple operations as part of Operation True Promise 4, which was launched immediately after the US-Israeli coalition carried out strikes on Iran.

Iranian armed forces have so far carried out 82 waves of missile and drone strikes with advanced weaponry targeting Israeli military facilities as well as US bases and assets scattered across the West Asia region. The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have also joined the front against the external aggressors, inflicting heavy blows on the enemy.