🔗 Share this article

Multiple US and Israeli airstrikes has reportedly destroyed or damaged no fewer than 11 Iran's navy ships since Saturday, recently obtained satellite images reveal, with launch facilities and atomic facilities also sustaining hits.

Pictures of the southern Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and houses the main command of the Iranian navy, depict plumes of smoke rising from a number of warships on the start of the week.

Maritime Fleet Sustained Major Losses

Among the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, Iran's largest naval vessel which had functioned as a drone carrier. Orbital photos indicated black smoke rising from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical evaluations suggest that at least a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "struck or destroyed". Pictures of the south end of the harbor depict smoke emanating from the Makran, while two other ships appear to be harmed, with one of them seen burning.

Over at Konarak, images display multiple stricken vessels, with analysis identifying strikes against a half-dozen warships. Images from the start of the week also show that a number of structures at the base have been leveled.

"For a long time the Iran's leadership has harassed international shipping," a senior US military official declared. "Now, there is not one vessel from Iran at sea in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."

A number of ships allegedly sunk may have been hidden in aerial photos by haze or plumes, or targeted offshore, and have not been conclusively proven. Separate reports stated that one Iranian ship was going down off the coast of Sri Lankan territorial waters, resulting in a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Installations and Atomic Facilities Hit

Neutralizing Tehran's launch facilities and the prevention of atomic bomb programs were declared as further goals of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also depicted impacts against the southern Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were hit.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e UAV facility to the west of the city of Kermanshah, widespread damage was observed to warehouses, bunkers and unmanned aircraft systems.

Destruction was also observed at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase in eastern Iran, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.

Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of attacks have apparently targeted installations at Natanz – widely believed to be at the core of the country's enrichment efforts. An international watchdog stated that the affected buildings were used for access to the site's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.

Wider Fallout and Assessment

Observers indicated that the attacks appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval ability to sustain standard operations using its biggest warships. Nevertheless, it was stressed that Iran retains the capacity to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, mini-submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of tankers.

The overall scope of the destruction caused to Iranian military infrastructure remains unclear, with attacks reportedly persisting. Imagery also indicates widespread damage to the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.

A large number of non-military structures also seem to have been damaged in the capital and across the country since the fighting escalated. Reports of deaths from local officials state that hundreds of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the bombardment.

With the conflict ongoing, monitoring of aerial photographs will carry on to document the evolving scope of damage.