Israel announced this Thursday the death of Alireza Tangsiri, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy, whom it holds responsible for coordinating the military actions aimed at obstructing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
These operations would be part of Tehran's response to the joint offensive by Israel and the United States, initiated on February 28 while Washington and the Islamic Republic were holding talks to try to close a new nuclear pact.
Israel claims the operation and launches a warning
"The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have eliminated the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Navy in a precise and deadly operation," said Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, who added that in the attack "several officers" of the organization have also died, without offering details about their names or ranks.
The head of Defense has remarked that Tangsiri “was directly responsible for the terrorist acts of bombing and blocking the Strait of Hormuz”, and has stressed that this action “is a clear message to all high-ranking officials of the Iranian terrorist organization”, including those of the Revolutionary Guard, “which currently controls Iran”.
“The IDF will continue eliminating them one by one,” Katz has warned, who has described Tangsiri’s death as “an important piece of news” for the United States and “a sign of the IDF’s help in opening the Strait of Hormuz”. “We continue operating in Iran with all our might to achieve the war objectives,” the minister has added.
Netanyahu celebrates the attack and highlights cooperation with the U.S.
For his part, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has celebrated Tangsiri's assassination and has stressed that “this man has a lot of blood on his hands” and that he was the one who led the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We continue to vigorously attack the objectives of the Iranian terrorist regime,” he indicated in a message published on social media, where he insisted that the attack against Tangsiri “is another example of the cooperation between us and our friend the United States”, with the common objective of achieving the objectives of the war.
Iran still does not confirm the death and increases the victim toll
Tangsiri, born in 1964 and in command of the Revolutionary Guard Navy since 2018, has not yet been recognized as deceased by Iranian authorities. The military figure is under United States sanctions since June 2019, when he was designated by Washington as “a terrorist”.
Tehran has reported in its latest count of more than 1,500 dead due to the Israeli-American offensive. However, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Activists in Iran, based in the United States, places the number of fatalities at more than 3,000.
Among the victims are top-level figures, such as the supreme leader, Ayatollah Alí Jamenei; the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Alí Lariyani; and the ministers of Defense and Intelligence, Aziz Nasirzadé and Esmaeil Jatib, in addition to high-ranking commanders of the Armed Forces and officials from other security bodies.