An elite Iranian navy chief who gave the green light to close the Strait of Hormuz has been killed in an airstrike on Thursday, according to a report.
Alireza Tangsiri, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy commander, was eliminated in a strike on the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, located on the Strait, an Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post.
Neither the Israeli Defense Forces nor the Iranian military has commented on the strike.
Tangsiri’s reported death comes after the assassinations of IRGC spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini, and the regime’s de-facto leader Ali Larijani, and its anti-protest enforcer Gholamreza Soleimani.
Tangsiri reportedly ordered the Strait of Hormuz – a vital waterway that oversees the shipment of 20 percent of the world’s oil supply – to be shut down and it has effectively remained closed since the start of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28.
Oil price volatility over the past four weeks has prompted calls from politicians and energy executives to reopen the Strait. Earlier this week, the price of Brent crude oil was reported to be $100 per barrel.
Tehran has threatened even more disruption, warning it could take control of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait if US forces invade Kharg Island – which is one-third the size of Manhattan and controls 90% of Iranian crude oil exports.
The Bab al-Mandeb Strait is the world’s fourth-largest shipping route, connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, and around 12% of the world’s oil passes through this chokepoint.
“If the enemy wants to take action on land in the Iranian islands or anywhere else in our lands or to inflict costs on Iran with naval movements in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman,” Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported, citing IRGC sources.
“We will open other fronts for them as a surprise so that their action will not only be of no benefit to them but will also double their costs.
“The Bab al-Mandab Strait is considered one of the world’s strategic straits, and Iran has both the will and the ability to create a completely credible threat against it.”
Tehran leveled the threat after President Trump said Central Command “executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.”
Iranian forces have increased air defenses and planted mines around Kharg Island amid fears of an invasion, Ynet reported.
And US allies are reportedly nervous about an American invasion.
An Israeli source warned that such action would lead to American casualties because Iran would respond with drone attacks, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“The hope is that they won’t take that risk and will instead fire at the oil fields, but there is no way to know,” they said.
