Israel claims to have killed Iranian naval commander who closed Strait of Hormuz

The naval commander responsible for closing the Strait of Hormuz has been killed in a missile strike as Israel Defence Forces vowed to hunt down and kill Iran’s leaders ‘one by one’.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri was reportedly killed in a wave of missile strikes last night.

Iran has so far not confirmed the death of the man Benjamin Netanyahu said ‘had a great deal of blood on his hands’.

Unverified footage shows a collapsed building after an Israeli missile strike where Tangrisi was reportedly meeting his other leaders in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.

It came as Washington, currently engaging in peace talks, listened to requests not to kill two other Iranian leaders because ‘there will be no one left to talk to’.

Tangrisi had been leading a bombing campaign that brought marine traffic on the Strait of Hormuz to a complete standstill creating global economic turmoil that has crashed Donald Trump’s approval ratings.

His final post on X was to give an update on ships that Iran had refused to allow through the Strait. He also recently threatened US-linked oil facilities.

Netanyahu said: ‘Last night, we eliminated the Commander of the IRGC Navy.

‘This man had a great deal of blood on his hands; he was also the one who led the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.’

According to Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, the Iranian naval commander was killed in a precise Israeli airstrike in Bandar Abbas, along with senior naval officers.

‘The Israeli Defence Force eliminated the commander of the IRGC Navy, the person directly responsible for the terror operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic,’ Defence Minister Israel Katz said.

Katz said the strike was a ‘message’ to the IRGC: ‘The IDF will hunt you down and eliminate you one by one.’

‘We will continue to operate in Iran with full force to achieve the objectives of the war,’ he added.

The strike also killed the IRGC Navy’s intelligence chief, Behnam Rezaei, IDF claimed.

‘Over the years, Tangsiri was responsible for attacks on oil tankers and commercial vessels and personally threatened the freedom of navigation and trade in the Strait of Hormuz and the international maritime domain,’ the IDF said.

During the current war, the IDF said he ‘led efforts to close the Strait of Hormuz and advanced terror attacks in the maritime domain, one of the primary figures responsible for disrupting the global economy.’

It came as Israel took Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf off its kill list after Pakistan requested that Washington not target them during peace talks.

‘The Israelis had their coordinates and wanted to take them out, we told the US if they are also eliminated then there is no one else to talk to, hence the US asked the Israelis to back off,’ a source told Reuters.

On Wednesday Iran rejected a US proposal to end the war with the Islamic Republic, setting out its own conditions for peace.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that Iran intended to keep fighting, after Donald Trump said Washington had proposed a peace plan.

‘At present, our policy is the continuation of resistance,’ Araghchi said on state TV.

‘We do not intend to negotiate. So far, no negotiations have taken place, and I believe our position is completely principled.’

He demanded a permanent end to the war and compensation for the destruction that has killed more than 2,000 people so far, including their Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Araghchi also taunted the US, saying it had so far failed to protect the Gulf states despite its military bases.