🔗 Share this article

Multiple US and Israeli airstrikes has according to analysis eliminated or harmed at least eleven Iran's navy ships since Saturday, freshly analyzed aerial photos reveal, with launch facilities and enrichment plants also sustaining hits.

Images of the southerly Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas facility, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the main command of the Iran's naval force, depict plumes of smoke rising from multiple vessels on Monday and Tuesday.

Naval Fleet Incurred Significant Losses

Included in the vessels destroyed was the Makran, Iran's largest naval vessel which had functioned as a drone carrier. Satellite images displayed black smoke rising from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence assessments suggest that no fewer than a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern end of the port reveal smoke rising from the Makran, while another pair of vessels are visibly impacted, with one of them visibly ablaze.

Over at Konarak, images show several harmed ships, with analysis pointing to strikes against six vessels. Pictures taken on Monday also demonstrate that several facilities at the base have been demolished.

"For decades the Iran's leadership has disrupted global maritime traffic," an American commander declared. "Today, there is not one Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."

Some ships allegedly sunk may have been concealed in aerial photos by haze or plumes, or targeted offshore, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Separate reports indicated that an Iranian vessel was going down off the coast of Sri Lankan waters, resulting in a search and rescue mission.

Missile Installations and Nuclear Locations Attacked

Neutralizing Iran's rocket sites and the stopping atomic bomb programs were declared as additional goals of the military strikes. Satellite images also depicted damage at the southerly Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone base to the west of Kermanshah, extensive damage was observed to sheds, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Damage was also noted at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase in eastern Iran, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.

Of particular note, the most recent series of attacks have apparently hit sites at the Natanz complex – considered at the center of Iran's nuclear programme. The UN's atomic energy body stated that the damaged buildings were used for entry to the site's underground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was anticipated.

Broader Impact and Assessment

Observers suggested that the attacks appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iranian navy's ability to carry out standard operations using its most significant warships. However, it was stressed that Tehran still has the capacity to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of oil ships.

The full extent of the damage caused to Iranian military infrastructure remains unclear, with strikes said to be continuing. Pictures also shows extensive damage to the command center of the the IRGC in the city of Tehran.

A large number of public facilities also appear to have been damaged in the capital and throughout Iran after the conflict escalated. Reports of deaths from ground sources indicate that hundreds of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the strikes.

Amid continuing hostilities, monitoring of aerial photographs will continue to document the unfolding battlefield picture.