MARCH 27, 2026 – Secretary of War Pete Hegseth yesterday relayed the killing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy’s top commander by the Israeli military, as part of ongoing Israeli and U.S. kinetic attacks against the Iranian regime during Operation Epic Fury.
Yesterday, the Israeli Defense Forces announced the killing of Commodore Alireza Tangsiri as a result of an overnight air strike.
Hegseth passed the news of the successful strike along during an update on Epic Fury’s progress while attending President Donald J. Trump’s cabinet meeting at the White House.
“Not only do they not have a navy, Mr. President, they no longer have a navy commander. The IRGC navy’s commander was killed overnight in operations; so, no navy, no leader,” Hegseth said, shortly after reporting that more than 150 Iranian navy vessels have been sunk since Epic Fury began Feb. 28.
When questioned about concerns regarding the IRGC putting commercial vessels at risk by dispatching mines throughout the hotly contested Strait of Hormuz, Hegseth said the degradation of Iran’s forces would make such action difficult for the regime.
“We have so heavily degraded their coastal defense capabilities and their naval capabilities that any strategic or operational attempts to do those types of things are extremely limited, and we continue to move over the top of that,” he said.
As an example, Hegseth said that A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters have been flying freely at will throughout Iranian airspace, including the Strait of Hormuz.
“See, you only send these slow, low-flying, close-air support platforms when the enemy has no meaningful air defenses left. [Therefore], their presence is proof that Iran’s air defenses are gone, their command and control is shattered, and their top leaders [are] hiding in underground bunkers,” Hegseth said, adding that the morale of the regime’s fighters is plummeting as mid-level commanders are being neutralized on the battlefield.
Beyond the more than 150 IRGC vessels sunk, Hegseth noted that over 10,000 enemy targets have been destroyed in under a month — including underground facilities and buildings vital to the regime’s defense industrial base.
“Twenty-seven days ago, Iran had a modern military; never in recorded history has a nation’s military been so quickly and effectively neutralized,” Hegseth said, also noting that U.S. and Israeli combat capabilities continue to rise as Iran’s decline.
“We are here to win, and we’re full speed ahead,” he added.
By Matthew Olay
Pentagon News