Israel claims to have killed key Iranian naval commander
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Israel says it's killed a top Iranian naval commander, responsible for overseeing the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, while President Trump tells Iran to get serious about negotiations. We hear from a supporter of the government in Tehran.
Also in the programme: former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is due to appear in court in New York today for only the second time since his capture at the beginning of January - we hear how his country’s been doing since his departure; and a new exhibition in London explores experiences and perceptions of ageing, from adolescence to older age - through art, science and popular culture.
(IMAGE: Alireza Tangsiri, Head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, who Israel claims to have killed (undated file photo) / CREDIT: sourced from EVN/IR IRGC navy chief stills/1041/26/3)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:09.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsAhour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.5 | We're coming to you live from London. I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:15.8 | And we're going to begin with the latest developments in Iran. |
| 0:18.8 | Today, Israel has said it's killed the commander of the Iranian |
| 0:22.1 | Revolutionary Guards Navy. According to Israel's defense minister, Ali Reza Tangziri was, quote, |
| 0:29.5 | blown up with other senior naval officers responsible for the effective closure of the Strait |
| 0:34.5 | of Hormuz, one of the world's busiest waterways for oil and gas exports. |
| 0:39.2 | It is the economic impact of that closure to most vessels that seems to be focusing |
| 0:43.4 | minds in Washington, either on finding ways to force it back open or to find an end to the war. |
| 0:50.3 | And on that, as we've been reporting all week, there are sharply competing narratives. |
| 0:55.0 | This was the latest from President Trump, writing on his network truth social early this morning. |
| 1:01.0 | The Iranian negotiators are very different and strange. They're begging us to make a deal, |
| 1:07.6 | which they should be doing since they've been militarily obliterated with zero |
| 1:12.7 | chance of a comeback. And yet they publicly state that they are only looking at our proposal, |
| 1:19.5 | wrong. They better get serious soon before it's too late, because once that happens, there is no |
| 1:27.0 | turning back and it won't be pretty. |
| 1:30.7 | Well, sometimes the way these things are conducted is pretty mystifying, and the Americans |
| 1:35.5 | in Iranians are clearly not sitting round a table. So what is going on? A question for our |
| 1:41.5 | chief international correspondent, Lees Doucette. Yes, and we have to bear in mind, James, |
| 1:46.3 | that in a war, there is always a war on two levels. One is what's happening on the ground, and then |
| 1:51.7 | there is the narrative about what is happening and messaging has always been part of the propaganda |
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