🔗 Share this article

Multiple US and Israeli airstrikes has according to analysis destroyed or damaged no fewer than eleven Iran's navy ships starting the weekend, recently obtained orbital imagery demonstrate, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also being targeted.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the headquarters of the Iranian navy, depict plumes of smoke rising from a number of warships on the start of the week.

Maritime Fleet Incurred Major Losses

Among the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, Iran's largest naval vessel which had functioned as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery displayed black smoke pouring from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical reports suggest that no fewer than five vessels at the port were "hit or sunk". Photos of the southern part of the port show plumes ascending from the Makran, while additional vessels seem to be harmed, with one clearly on fire.

At the Konarak base, photos show numerous damaged ships, with analysis identifying impacts on a half-dozen warships. Photos from the start of the week also show that several buildings at the installation have been leveled.

"For many years the Iranian regime has disrupted international shipping," a senior US military official stated. "Now, there is not a single vessel from Iran underway in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."

A number of vessels reportedly sunk may have been obscured in satellite images by haze or plumes, or hit in open waters, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Separate reports indicated that one Iranian ship was foundering near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, resulting in a rescue operation.

Rocket Sites and Atomic Locations Targeted

Neutralizing Iranian missile bases and the stopping atomic bomb programs were stated as further aims of the air campaign. Aerial imagery also showed damage at the southern Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were hit.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base to the west of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was identified to warehouses, bunkers and unmanned aircraft systems.

Damage was also noted at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern parts of the country, close to the border with neighboring nations.

Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of strikes have apparently focused on facilities at the Natanz complex – considered at the center of Iran's enrichment efforts. A global monitoring agency commented that the damaged structures were used for access to the site's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no radiological consequence" was likely.

Wider Impact and Assessment

Military analysts suggested that the offensive appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval capacity to sustain conventional attacks using its most significant warships. But, it was emphasised that Tehran retains the option to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.

The total scale of the destruction caused to Iran's defense facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with hostilities reportedly continuing. Pictures also indicates considerable damage to the headquarters of the the IRGC in the capital Tehran.

A large number of public facilities also seem to have been hit in the capital and throughout the country after the conflict escalated. Reports of deaths from inside Iran state that a high number of civilians may have been lost their lives in the strikes.

Amid continuing hostilities, review of satellite imagery will persist to assess the evolving military landscape.