Israel killed Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, on Thursday in an airstrike on a residential building in the port city of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. Iran International reported that the strike targeted a meeting of senior IRGC officials. Footage from the scene showed an entire residential building that had collapsed – evidence that Tangsiri had used a civilian structure to avoid being targeted. Iran had neither confirmed nor denied his killing as of publication.
Tangsiri had served in his post since 2018 and was widely regarded as a personal appointee of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He was known for his bluster toward the United States. In November 2021, Tangsiri said that the US "had come to understand the Islamic Republic's supremacy at sea."
Video: The scene of the assassination of the IRGC navy commander in Bandar Abbas. Credit: Arab media
In February 2025, he unveiled Iran's first drone carrier – a repurposed commercial vessel he described as "the largest naval military project" in Iranian history. The ship was sunk by the US Air Force in the early days of the war.
In March 2025, Tangsiri warned that "if the enemies make a mistake, we will send them to the depths of hell" – a statement that came after US President Donald Trump wrote to Supreme Leader Khamenei calling on Iran to reach a nuclear deal with the US or face military action.
