Alireza Tangsiri, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday, was a veteran hardliner with a taste for fiery rhetoric who grasped better than many the strategic importance of the strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of the world’s oil and gas.
During naval exercises in the Gulf in January, Tangsiri said the Iranian revolution of 1979 represented “a turning point in the history of the Iranian nation and a new dawn for the awakening of the oppressed nations of the world”.
