Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The commander of Iran’s naval force, Alireza Tangsiri, has been killed in a strike in southern Iran, Israeli media reported on March 26, the latest high-profile casualty in the war that’s now in its fourth week.
Tangsiri, who led the naval wing of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was reportedly killed in a strike in the port city of Bandar Abbas. The official added that Commodore Tangsiri had been responsible for overseeing the closure of Strait of Hormuz Iran’s chokehold on the crucial waterway has upended oil and gas deliveries from the Middle East. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran on the reported strike.
If confirmed, the killing would deal a major blow to Iran’s military leadership, particularly its naval operations in the strategically vital Persian Gulf.
Born in Bushehr Province in southern Iran, Alireza Tangsiri rose through the ranks of the IRGC Navy after serving during the Iran-Iraq War and the so-called Tanker Wars, the United States’s first conflict with Iran during the 1980s.
Tangsiri went on to command the IRGC Navy’s 1st Naval District in Bandar Abbas and served as deputy commander from 2010 to 2018, before taking over as the force’s chief. Tangsiri’s reported death adds to a growing list of senior Iranian officials assassinated since the war began on February 28, when the US and Israel launched coordinated military strikes on Iran.
