The naval chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who was directly responsible for the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, has been eliminated in an Israeli strike, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Thursday morning.
Alireza Tangsiri, who held the rank of ‘Commodore’ in the U.S.-designated terrorist organization, was killed in a “precise and lethal operation” in the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, Israeli sources say.
“The commander of the navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Alireza Tangsiri, was killed in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas,” i24NEWS reported, quoting Israeli defense officials.
Besides Tangsiri, other senior operatives of the IRGC’s Navy were eliminated in the strike, Israeli media reports suggest.
“Alongside Tangsiri, the IDF eliminated the Head of the IRGC Navy Intelligence Directorate, Behnam Rezaei,” the Israeli military said in a statement. “Rezaei served as the Head of the IRGC Navy Intelligence Directorate for a number of years and constituted a central knowledge authority in maritime intelligence.”
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s busiest energy waterways and carries around a fifth of the global oil supply. Since the conflict began nearly four weeks ago, Iran has effectively closed the waterway, cutting it down to just 5 percent of its pre-war volume.
The Jerusalem Post reports:
A strike killed the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Navy, Alireza Tangsiri, in Bandar Abbas, adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.Israeli defense sources have confirmed to the Post that the IDF was behind the strike that killed Tangsiri and added that the strike took place at 3 a.m local time.The sources said that a number of Tangsiri’s top naval aides were killed in the same attack.“We continue to strike the targets of the Iranian terror regime with force,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday afternoon.Netanyahu said Tangsiri had “a great deal of blood on his hands” and was the person “who led the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”Earlier, Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed Tangsiri’s killing, calling him the official “directly responsible” for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.
A day after targeting Iran’s main weapons production facility, Israeli fighter jets struck weapon factories in capital Tehran and other cities. The strikes are aimed at degrading the regime’s ability launch missiles and drones across the region.
“The IDF has dismantled weapons production sites across Tehran and central Iran,” the Israeli military announced Thursday afternoon.
“Over the past day, more than 60 Israeli Air Force fighter jets, acting on IDF intelligence, completed several waves of strikes, during which more than 150 munitions were used for dismantling key weapons production sites across Tehran and central Iran,” the military added.
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