JERUSALEM: The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy was killed in an airstrike, Israel said on Thursday.
Alireza Tangsiri's death was confirmed by Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, who said the killing put Iran’s navy on a path toward “irreversible decline.”
Weeks of US and Israeli strikes have destroyed most of its larger ships and stripped it of much of its ability to project power, he said.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said Tangsiri was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday night.
The "precise and lethal operation" also killed other senior naval officers, Katz said.
"The man who was directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to shipping was blown up and eliminated."
Israel said Iran's naval intelligence chief, Behnam Rezaei, was also killed.
Rezaei had “central knowledge authority in maritime intelligence,” the Israeli military said.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the killings.
In recent days, Israeli forces have carried out several strikes targeting the naval assets of Iran.
Last week, Israeli airstrikes hit several Iranian naval ships in the Caspian Sea, including ones equipped with missile systems, support vessels and patrol craft.
Cooper warned that the US would also keep striking naval targets in Iran.
Every Iranian serving in the Revolutionary Guard’s navy should "abandon their post and return home to avoid further risk of unnecessary injury or death," he said.
Though the US claims to have destroyed most of Iran’s naval capabilities, it has smaller boats capable of laying mines and anti-ship cruise missiles that can be launched from ashore.
Since the start of the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, Israel has killed several top Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic republic's powerful security chief, Ali Larijani.
- With AFP and AP
