Iran has officially confirmed the death of naval commander Alireza Tangsiri, who was responsible for overseeing the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The announcement was made on Monday by the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and reported by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
The statement highlighted Tangsiri’s role in organizing Iran’s naval forces and building a robust defense system to protect the country’s coastline and islands. He was seriously injured in a recent attack and subsequently passed away.
On March 26, Israel claimed that Tangsiri had been killed in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike in the southwestern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, though Iran had initially not responded to the claim.
Tangsiri was among a small number of senior Iranian officials who had survived multiple assassination attempts by Israel in the past. He was promoted to a high-ranking naval position in 2018, with primary responsibility for managing the Strait of Hormuz.
Following the outbreak of hostilities with Israel and the United States on February 28, the IRGC imposed a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. Under Tangsiri’s command, attacks were carried out on more than a dozen foreign oil tankers transiting the waterway.
