🔗 Share this article

Multiple US and Israeli attacks has reportedly eliminated or harmed a minimum of 11 warships belonging to Iran since the weekend, new satellite images reveal, with missile bases and nuclear sites also sustaining hits.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas installation, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and houses the main command of the Iran's naval force, reveal smoke billowing from several vessels on the start of the week.

Maritime Fleet Sustained Substantial Losses

Included in the ships sunk was the Makran, the country's biggest warship which had served as a drone carrier. Orbital photos displayed black smoke emanating from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Analytical evaluations suggest that at least a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "damaged or eliminated". Imagery of the south end of the port depict plumes ascending from the IRINS Makran, while additional vessels are visibly impacted, with a single one clearly on fire.

At Konarak, photos show numerous damaged ships, with expert review pointing to damage to six vessels. Pictures from the start of the week also demonstrate that a number of structures at the base have been demolished.

"For a long time the Iran's leadership has harassed commercial vessels," the head of US Central Command stated. "At present, there is not a single Iranian vessel underway in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will not stop."

Some vessels reportedly sunk may have been obscured in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or hit in open waters, and have not been conclusively proven. Other accounts suggested that one Iranian ship was foundering off the coast of Sri Lanka's territorial waters, prompting a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Installations and Nuclear Locations Attacked

Neutralizing Tehran's launch facilities and the hindering of nuclear weapons development were stated as additional aims of the offensive. Aerial imagery also depicted impacts against the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where rocket warehouses and bunkers were struck.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone base west of the city of Kermanshah, significant destruction was identified to storage buildings, underground facilities and UAV launching apparatus.

Damage was also noted at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern parts of the country, near the frontier with neighboring nations.

Significantly, the latest wave of strikes have reportedly hit facilities at Natanz – considered at the center of the country's nuclear programme. An international watchdog commented that the damaged buildings were used for access to the site's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was likely.

Broader Fallout and Assessment

Military analysts suggested that the strikes appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval ability to carry out traditional warfare using its biggest warships. Nevertheless, it was stressed that Tehran retains the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.

The total scale of the damage caused to Iran's defense infrastructure remains unclear, with hostilities reportedly continuing. Photos also indicates extensive damage to the main offices of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the capital Tehran.

A significant number of civilian buildings also seem to have been struck in the capital city and across the country after the hostilities began. Reports of deaths from inside Iran suggest that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the attacks.

Amid continuing hostilities, review of aerial photographs will persist to document the changing scope of damage.