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Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike had killed Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ navy.

“Last night, in a precise and lethal operation, the IDF eliminated the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy, Tangsiri, along with senior officers of the naval command,” Katz said in a video statement.

“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.”

The US military also confirmed the killing on Thursday, and said that the elimination of Alireza Tangsiri “makes the region safer”.

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), added in a statement that every Iranian serving in the IRGC navy should “abandon their post and return home to avoid further risk of unnecessary injury or death”.

Read moreIran targets US public opinion with online information war

Since the start of the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, Israel has announced the killing of several top Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic republic’s powerful security chief, Ali Larijani.

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.

Meanwhile, the US was preparing for the arrival of thousands of troops that could be used on the ground in Iran.

The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,900 people in Iran and nearly 1,100 people in Lebanon, with dozens more killed in Israel and elsewhere in the region. Thirteen US. military members have died. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced. 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

US President Donald Trump said he is extending the deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 10 days, reportedly in response to a request from the government in Tehran.

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“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

On Sunday, Trump gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the key waterway or the US would destroy all of the country’s energy infrastructure.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting earlier on Thursday, Trump denied he was desperate for a deal to end the war, insisting that Tehran was keen to come to the table despite the Islamic republic’s cool response to an American peace proposal.

Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told the Cabinet there were “strong signs” that Tehran was ready to negotiate an end to the fighting, confirming publicly for the first time that Washington had shared a 15-point “action list” with Tehran through Pakistani officials.

“We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction,” Witkoff said.

For his part, Trump told reporters: “I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal. I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care.”

During a 90-minute televised meeting at the White House, Trump veered between repeated threats to “obliterate” Iran and claims the Islamic republic was already on the verge of capitulating.

“They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit,” he said.

In response to a reporter’s question, Trump also said the United States might take control of Iran’s oil, comparing it to the deal Washington made with Venezuela after toppling Nicolás Maduro. “It’s an option,” he said.

Stretched to the limit

Trump’s tough talk came as Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warned his country’s government for the first time that the war was taking too high a toll.

“The IDF is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield,” Lapid said, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir.

“The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means and with far too few soldiers,” Lapid said.

In a televised briefing, Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said: “On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces…For that, more combat soldiers are needed in the IDF.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian news agency Tasnim said: “Iran’s response to the 15 points proposed by the US was officially sent last night through intermediaries and Iran is awaiting the other side’s response.”

The Tasnim report, citing an unnamed official, said Iran’s reply called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on Iran and also on Tehran-backed groups elsewhere in the region, an implicit reference to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, among others.

War reparations should be paid and Iran’s “sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz be respected, it said, citing conditions that put Tehran’s demands far beyond anything in the US plan.

Additional sources • AFP