Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has claimed that the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy Alireza Tangsiri was killed in a strike, The Times of Israel reported.

Katz was quoted as having described Tangsiri as “the person directly responsible for the terror operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic”.

Iran has not yet commented on the claim.

Here are more top updates from the conflict in West Asia:

  • US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that the Iranian negotiators “are very different and ‘strange’”. Tehran was “begging” Washington to make a deal, Trump claimed on social media. “...they should be doing [that] since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal’”, he said.
  • “Wrong!” He added. “They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is no turning back, and it won’t be pretty!”
  • Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday that “indirect talks” are taking place between the United States and Iran, and that the messages were being relayed by Islamabad. “Brotherly countries of Turkiye and Egypt, among others, are also extending their support to this initiative,” Dar said on social media.
  • Dar’s comment came amid speculation about the nature of Pakistan's role in the talks to end the conflict. He also confirmed that the US has shared a 15-point plan to end the fighting, which is “being deliberated upon” by Tehran.
  • Reports said on Wednesday that Iran had dismissed the 15-point ceasefire plan proposed by the US and instead countered it with a proposal of its own.
  • Iranian state TV quoted an unidentified official as saying Tehran had rejected the plan it had received via Pakistan, saying it would “end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met”, The Guardian reported.
  • Later on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his government had not engaged in talks to end the war, “and we do not plan on any negotiations,” AP reported. The statement came even as US President Donald Trump claimed that Tehran desperately wanted to arrive at a deal, but was not willing to admit it.
  • The 15-point plan proposed by Washington broadly focused on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, rollback of Iran’s nuclear programme, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, AP quoted unidentified Pakistani officials as saying.
  • On the other hand, the conditions laid out by Iran to end the war included guaranteed payment for war damage and reparations, end to aggression and assassinations, concrete guarantees preventing the reoccurrence of war against Tehran, end of the war on Iran and against all resistance groups across the region and international recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, The Indian Express reported.
  • Jassim Mohammed Al-Budaiwi, the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said that the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran is a “crossing of a red line” and will be catastrophic in the long run. “What is being done to the energy facilities in GCC countries...is a brutal aggression on world economy,” he said on Thursday. Iran is not a member of the GCC.
  • Al-Budaiwi said at a press briefing in Riyadh on Thursday that the GCC members, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, want a diplomatic solution to the conflict. “Our aim is not to destroy Iran at all,” he said.
  • Since the beginning of the conflict, Iran had effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterbody connecting the Gulf to the Arabian Sea, for most international commercial vessels since the start of the conflict. About 20% of global petroleum supply passes through the maritime chokepoint.
  • Araghchi has said that Tehran will permit passage through the Strait of Hormuz for “friendly nations”, including India, China, Russia, Iraq and Pakistan, the Consulate General of Iran in Mumbai stated on Thursday.
  • Following a marginal drop in global oil prices on Wednesday, the benchmark Brent crude was again trading above the $100 per barrel-mark on Thursday. The price was $78 per barrel on February 27, a day before the conflict started.
  • Major Asian stock indices fell on Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.8%, South Korea’s Kospi had fallen 3.2%, Japan’s Nikkei 0.2% and China’s Shanghai Composite 1%. The Indian stock market was closed on account of Ram Navami.
  • Trump on Wednesday said that Iran wants to make a deal “so badly” but “they’re afraid to say it” for fear of being killed, CNN reported. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like we’re doing in the Middle East with Iran, and they are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people,” the channel quoted Trump as saying at an event. “They’re also afraid they’ll be killed by us.”
  • Amid the conflict, 1,043 Indians, including 717 students, have crossed out of Iran with the assistance of the mission in Tehran, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday. At an inter-ministerial briefing, Aseem R Mahajan, who is additional secretary (gulf) in the external affairs ministry, also said the overall flight situation continues to improve, adding that around 4.2 lakh passengers have returned from the region to India since February 28, PTI reported.

The conflict

The US and Israel launched an attack on Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran’s action posed an existential threat to Israel. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security. Iran has retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region, and targeting major cities in Gulf countries and some ships.

Israel has been claiming that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance. Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.