Israel says it has killed Iran naval chief overseeing Strait of Hormuz blockade

Israel’s Defense Forces said Thursday that Iranian naval commander Alireza Tangsiri had been killed in a “precise strike” in the port city of Bandar Abbas, accusing him of being responsible for efforts to close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.

The IDF said in a social media post that Tangsiri “oversaw maritime terrorism carried out against countries in the Middle East, as well as against U.S. and other nations’ energy infrastructure.”

U.S. Central Command later confirmed Tangsiri’s death in a post on X. Tangsiri’s death from the Israeli airstrike “makes the region safer,” said CentCom commander Admiral Brad Cooper, adding that strikes on the Iranian navy would continue.

Iran has not yet commented on the report.

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has virtually ground to a halt since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Iran has retaliated by targeting ships trying to pass through the waterway, with several incidents reported in recent weeks.

Alongside Tangsiri, the IDF said it had killed the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s (IRGC) Navy Intelligence Directorate, Behnam Rezaei.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country’s forces continue to strike at the targets of Iran’s regime.

“Last night, we eliminated the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy. This man has a lot of blood on his hands, and in addition, he is the one who led the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” Netanyahu said on X, according to a Google translation.

“This is another example of the cooperation between us and our friend the United States, for the common goal of achieving the objectives of the war,” he added.

Israel previously said it has killed Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, and the commander of Iran’s Basij forces, Gholamreza Soleimani.