🔗 Share this article

A series of US and Israeli airstrikes has according to analysis destroyed or damaged no fewer than eleven Iran's navy ships starting the weekend, new aerial photos reveal, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also coming under fire.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas installation, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the main command of the Iranian navy, reveal black smoke pouring from a number of vessels on the start of the week.

Maritime Forces Sustained Significant Damage

Among the targets eliminated was the IRINS Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery displayed dark plumes pouring from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical evaluations suggest that at least five ships at the port were "hit or sunk". Photos of the south end of the port depict smoke emanating from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of ships appear to be harmed, with a single one visibly ablaze.

Over at the Konarak base, photos reveal multiple stricken vessels, with expert review pointing to damage to six vessels. Photos taken on the start of the week also show that multiple facilities at the installation have been demolished.

"For many years the Tehran government has disrupted global maritime traffic," the head of US Central Command said. "Today, there is not a single vessel from Iran at sea in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Sea of Oman, and we will continue."

A number of ships reportedly sunk may have been obscured in satellite images by haze or plumes, or struck at sea, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Other accounts stated that an Iranian vessel was foundering near Sri Lanka's waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Sites and Atomic Locations Hit

The destruction of Iranian missile bases and the stopping atomic bomb programs were stated as other aims of the air campaign. Aerial imagery also depicted strikes on the southerly Khorgu and north-western Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone UAV facility west of Kermanshah, extensive damage was observed to warehouses, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.

Impact was also observed at a radar site at the Zahedan military airport in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Significantly, the most recent series of attacks have apparently hit installations at Natanz – considered at the center of Iran's enrichment efforts. The UN's atomic energy body said that the affected structures were used for entry to the facility's underground nuclear plant and that "no release of radioactive material" was anticipated.

Wider Fallout and Analysis

Defense experts suggested that the offensive appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval capability to conduct standard operations using its biggest vessels. Nevertheless, it was stressed that Iran retains the option to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.

The total scale of the destruction caused to Iranian military infrastructure remains unclear, with hostilities said to be ongoing. Photos also indicates extensive damage to the main offices of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.

A large number of public facilities also seem to have been hit in the capital and across Iran since the hostilities began. Reports of deaths from local officials suggest that hundreds of civilians may have been killed in the strikes.

As the situation develops, review of space-based data will carry on to track the evolving military landscape.