Alireza Tangsiri, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval commander, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday. Tangsiri was a veteran hardliner who understood the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas passes.
Tangsiri oversaw the IRGC Navy's testing of cruise missiles and sat on the board of a company that developed armed drones, according to the US Treasury, which sanctioned him in 2019 and 2023. He also strongly supported the use of fast boats to threaten civilian shipping and evade modern warship defences.
During naval exercises in January, Tangsiri said the Iranian revolution represented a turning point. He rose through the ranks after the Iran-Iraq war, becoming IRGC naval commander in 2018. Last week, he dared the US to attack Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub.
The head of the IRGC Navy intelligence directorate, Behnam Rezaei, was also killed in the strike on Bandar Abbas. US Central Command chief Adm Brad Cooper said the killing makes the region safer. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz described the strike as a message to the IRGC, vowing to hunt down and eliminate them one by one.
