Netanyahu: IRGC naval commander slain

The Israel Defense Forces targeted and killed the commander of the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps overnight Wednesday, along with senior naval command officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Commodore Alireza Tangsiri “had a great deal of blood on his hands; he was also the one who led the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.

“We continue to forcefully strike the targets of the Iranian terrorist regime,” the premier added. “This is yet another example of the cooperation between us and our friend, the United States, toward the common goal of achieving the objectives of the war.”

Tangsiri was subject to “numerous international sanctions due to his involvement in terror attacks against vessels in international waters and the trade of air defense systems and UAVs to Russia and Syria,” the IDF said in a separate statement. He was killed alongside the head of the IRGC Navy’s Intelligence Division, according to the military.

Defense Minister Israel Katz, during a situational assessment with senior defense officials at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, called the assassination a “clear message to all senior members of the Iranian terrorist organization, the Revolutionary Guards that currently controls Iran: The IDF will hunt you down and eliminate you one by one.” He congratulated the IDF on the “flawless execution.”

Katz added that this was also “important news for our American partners as an expression of the IDF’s assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and of the historic partnership between U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and between the two countries and their militaries.”

He vowed to continue operating in Iran with “full force” to achieve the objectives of the war.

The defense minister in his recorded message opened by expressing condolences on the death of IDF Staff Sgt. Ori Greenberg, “who fought bravely together with his comrades to bring security to the residents of the north.”

Greenberg, 21, was killed in action fighting Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Southern Lebanon, according to the military.

Greenberg, from the central Israeli city of Petach Tikvah, served as a combat soldier in the in Golani Infantry Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion, the IDF said, adding that his family was informed.

The death toll among Israeli troops since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border terrorist massacre now stands at 928, according to IDF figures.