🔗 Share this article

A series of American and Israeli strikes has according to analysis destroyed or damaged no fewer than 11 warships belonging to Iran since Saturday, new aerial photos demonstrate, with missile bases and nuclear sites also being targeted.

Images of the southerly Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas installation, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and contains the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, reveal smoke billowing from multiple vessels on recent days.

Naval Forces Incurred Substantial Damage

Included in the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos indicated dark plumes pouring from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Analytical evaluations state that no fewer than five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Pictures of the southern end of the harbor depict smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of ships appear to be damaged, with one of them visibly ablaze.

Over at the Konarak base, images show numerous damaged vessels, with expert review identifying strikes against six ships. Photos taken on Monday also indicate that a number of buildings at the installation have been leveled.

"For decades the Tehran government has disrupted international shipping," the head of US Central Command said. "Today, there is no Iranian ship underway in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."

Some vessels reportedly sunk may have been concealed in satellite images by weather conditions or battle damage, or hit in open waters, and have not been conclusively proven. Separate reports suggested that a ship from Iran was foundering off the coast of Sri Lankan waters, prompting a rescue operation.

Rocket Bases and Atomic Facilities Targeted

Eliminating Iranian missile bases and the stopping nuclear weapons development were declared as further goals of the offensive. Aerial imagery also showed strikes on the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and bunkers were hit.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone unmanned aircraft site west of the city of Kermanshah, extensive destruction was seen to storage buildings, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Damage was also noted at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, close to the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of attacks have apparently focused on installations at Natanz – long said to be at the center of the country's atomic program. An international watchdog commented that the damaged buildings were used for access to the site's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was anticipated.

Wider Fallout and Assessment

Military analysts indicated that the attacks appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iranian navy's ability to conduct traditional warfare using its largest warships. Nevertheless, it was noted that Tehran maintains the capacity to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of drones, mini-submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of tankers.

The overall scope of the destruction caused to Iran's defense infrastructure has yet to be fully assessed, with strikes reportedly persisting. Photos also indicates widespread damage to the command center of the the IRGC in the capital Tehran.

A large number of civilian buildings also are reported to have been hit in the capital city and throughout the country after the hostilities began. Reports of deaths from inside Iran indicate that a high number of non-combatants may have been killed in the strikes.

With the conflict ongoing, analysis of aerial photographs will carry on to track the changing scope of damage.