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New Delhi: Israel has claimed that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri was killed in an overnight strike in the port city of Bandar Abbas. The chief of Iran’s elite naval force was responsible for monitoring the maritime activity in the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing war between the US, Israel, and Iran, according to a Times of Israel report.

Tehran has not issued any confirmation regarding the claim as of now. If confirmed, this will be the latest high-profile killing in the West Asia war that has entered its fourth week. Tangsiri was one of the few key officials who had evaded the US-Israeli assassination attempts so far. According to reports, the veteran commander was behind Iran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Tangsiri commanded Iran’s elite naval wing –IRGC– and was responsible for supervising the Strait of Hormuz and overseeing the fortification of Kharg Island, Iran’s most critical oil export terminal.

While Iran is allowing some countries to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, it is blocking ships linked to the US. Before the ongoing war, 20 per cent of all traded oil and natural gas would be transported through the strategic waterway. However, the blockade has led to a 95 per cent drop in daily shipping of energy through it.

The US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Tehran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As a retaliatory move, Iran blacked the Strait of Hormuz, a key global chokepoint through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas normally flows. Iran’s Hormuz blockade has sent global gas and oil prices skyrocketing.