Ambiguity Surrounds the Location and Circumstances of the Death of a Senior Iranian Army Commander

The public relations office of the Iranian Navy states that he has "joined his martyr comrades" and the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Republic Army has expressed condolences for his "martyrdom." Rear Admiral Gholamreza Shirani was the commander of the second naval region of the army in the Sea of Oman, known as "Velayat Jask." The news of Mr. Shirani's death was announced on Friday, September 9. The Navy's statement said that this senior commander "joined his martyr comrades while on a mission." However, the statement only referred to some of Admiral Shirani's activities, such as "ensuring communication and shipping lines in international waters and providing livelihood infrastructure for the people of the Makran coast," without mentioning the cause or location of his death. Major General Ataollah Salehi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army, also did not refer to the circumstances or location of the senior naval commander's death in a message issued on September 21. Mr. Salehi referred to Admiral Shirani as a "martyr of resistance economy" and stated that he, who had "dressed in the uniform of service and protection in a sensitive area of Islamic Iran," ultimately "joined the Almighty in the path of what he believed in." The Fars News Agency, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also merely stated that this senior naval commander "joined his martyr comrades while on a mission." The funeral of Gholamreza Shirani was held on Saturday, September 20, in Isfahan, attended by the Commander-in-Chief and the Commander of the Navy of the Iranian Army. According to the division of responsibilities that has developed in recent years between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian Army, the Navy of the IRGC is responsible for securing the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, while the Navy of the Army secures the Sea of Oman and Iranian ships in international waters. In recent years, the Navy's patrol units have engaged multiple times with pirate boats in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. The Iranian armed forces are also accused of providing military assistance to the Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen. The ambiguity surrounding the circumstances and location of Gholamreza Shirani's death comes after Mohammad Nazari, the commander of the IRGC's naval commando unit, also died in the south of the country earlier this year, with various circumstances surrounding his death. At that time, Alireza Tangsiri, the deputy commander of the IRGC Navy, announced that Mr. Nazari had died during a mission in the "Nazaat" maritime area in the Strait of Hormuz due to a "chemical ailment." The Tasnim News Agency reported that Mr. Nazari's cause of death was "cardiac arrest." The IRGC's public relations also stated that he died "while on a mission in the Nazaat area" in the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Nazari was mentioned as one of the commanders involved in the operation to capture several U.S. Marines in the Persian Gulf.