Israel assassinated Iran's navy chief over fears he could lead a more dangerous IRGC - exclusive

One of the key reasons for the assassination of Iran navy chief Alireza Tangsiri by Israel on March 26 was the concern of top Israeli officials that he could emerge as the next head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, The Jerusalem Post has learned.He would have been a much tougher adversary than Ahmad Vahidi, who eventually became the new IRGC chief.Many top Israeli officials viewed Tangsiri as a highly creative and resourceful commander, whereas Vahidi was largely seen as a deputy to a deputy of top commanders, lacking the power to shape the broader security posture.These revelations come out following recent reports, first in Yediot Aharonot and later confirmed by the Post, that around March 19, Cooper made a secret call to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir to request that Israel eliminate Tangsiri, considered a serious threat to the Strait of Hormuz and the naval conflict in general.Zamir approved, and on March 26, Israel assassinated Tangsiri.US request to eliminate Tangsiri raises questions over Iranian naval mining threatThe Post has also disclosed several other details about the assassination in recent reports, including the crucial role of the Israeli Navy in providing intelligence.This incident raised the question of why would Cooper secretly call Zamir on March 19 to ask him to remove Tangsiri as a threat, if US sources want to claim in general that Iran was not carrying out significant, real sea-mining until the conflict paused sometime in mid-April - something the Post can now also reveal.The Post has learned that the US was confused and had varying levels of confidence when they learned of Iranian discussions about what Tehran was really thinking about doing regarding mining.Whatever the concerns were, both Israeli and American sources have acknowledged that they were not the same as issuing actual orders on the matter.In that sense, the Post understands that Cooper's call to Zamir was, in many senses, a call for a preemptive move to head off a possible future strategic problem.From the Israeli perspective, there were multiple reasons to assassinate Tangsiri, including concerns about his potential future role in the IRGC, and Cooper's call helped push forward an operation that already had support.