Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday announced that his country’s military killed the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’s navy, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, who led the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Tangsiri and other senior naval commanders were killed in an Israeli strike overnight, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
“This man had a great deal of blood on his hands,” Netanyahu said in a video shared on the social platform X. “He was also the one who led the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Netanyahu added that the strike was “another example of the cooperation” between Israel and the U.S. “toward the common goal of achieving the objectives of the war.”
Iran’s government has not officially confirmed Tangsiri’s death.
U.S. Central Command confirmed Tangsiri’s death.
Adm. Brad Cooper, who heads Centcom, said in a statement that the U.S. Treasury designated Tangsiri a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” in June 2019 and sanctioned him for drone development five years later.
Tangsiri’s death “from an Israeli airstrike makes the region safer,” Cooper added.
“Tangsiri commanded the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ navy] for eight years, during which time the IRGC harassed thousands of merchant mariners, attacked hundreds of vessels with one way attack drones and missiles, and killed countless innocent civilians,” the admiral said.
The Strait of Hormuz closed following the start of the conflict late last month. Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, ordered the strait remain closed until all hostilities cease. The strait’s closure has resulted in skyrocketing oil and gas prices, with the national average for gas in the U.S. reaching $3.98 per gallon on Thursday, according to AAA. Gas was $1 cheaper per gallon on Feb. 26, two days before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
Officials in Tehran rejected the U.S.’s 15-point peace plan and submitted a counterproposal that requests Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to all hostilities and to stop the attacks on the country’s officials.
READ ALSO: Iran’s military taunts Trump, says US negotiating with itself
Several Iranian officials have been killed since the start of the conflict, including former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
President Trump accused the Iranians of “begging” for a deal, attacking them for only “looking at our proposal.”
“WRONG!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. “They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”
The president previously touted that talks between the U.S. and Iran have been “productive,” and that the U.S. will not negotiate with Mojtaba Khamenei.
But Iranian officials have struck a defiant tone on social media. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on his country’s state media that the U.S. failed in accomplishing its objectives and dismissed the idea that Iran was directly negotiating with the U.S.
“The U.S. backed Israel’s Gaza blockade, cutting aid under ‘security’ claims, yet condemns Iran for defending itself in Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote on X Thursday. “Double standard: Israel’s crimes are OK while Iran’s defense against aggressors is condemned. International law is not a tool of convenience.”
