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TEHRAN | Xinhua | Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that Alireza Tangsiri, chief commander of its navy, died after sustaining severe injuries while performing his duties.
In a statement published by its official outlet Sepah News, the IRGC extended condolences for Tangsiri’s “martyrdom.”
The statement added that Tangsiri, 64, died from severe injuries sustained “while organizing and strengthening his forces and beefing up the country’s defensive shield along the islands and coastlines targeted by hostile forces.” It praised him for the “heavy blows” the IRGC’s naval forces dealt to “important” U.S. and Israeli facilities and infrastructure under his command.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed in a statement on Thursday that Israel’s military killed Tangsiri in an overnight airstrike, adding that the attack also killed other senior navy officials.
The IRGC stressed that Tangsiri’s absence has not disrupted its naval forces’ “crushing blows” to enemies or the ability to maintain decisive control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Citing an Israeli official, Israel’s state-owned Kan TV news said earlier on Thursday that Tangsiri was killed in an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian naval base in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.
Tangsiri was appointed IRGC naval commander in 2018.
On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians.
Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and U.S. bases and assets in the Middle East, and exercising tight control over the Strait of Hormuz by not allowing safe passage by vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States. ■
