🔗 Share this article

A wave of joint strikes has reportedly destroyed or damaged a minimum of eleven warships belonging to Iran since Saturday, freshly analyzed aerial photos reveal, with rocket sites and enrichment plants also sustaining hits.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the main command of the Iranian navy, show plumes of smoke rising from a number of vessels on the start of the week.

Naval Fleet Sustained Major Losses

Among the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, the country's most sizable ship which had been used as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery displayed dark plumes pouring from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence evaluations indicate that no fewer than five ships at the port were "struck or destroyed". Imagery of the south end of the harbor depict smoke emanating from the IRINS Makran, while two other vessels seem to be impacted, with one clearly on fire.

Over at the Konarak base, photos show numerous harmed vessels, with analysis pointing to impacts on six ships. Pictures from the start of the week also show that multiple structures at the base have been demolished.

"For many years the Iran's leadership has disrupted global maritime traffic," a senior US military official said. "At present, there is not one Iranian ship at sea in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."

A number of vessels allegedly sunk may have been hidden in satellite images by weather conditions or battle damage, or hit in open waters, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Additional information suggested that an Iranian vessel was sinking near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Missile Installations and Atomic Facilities Hit

Eliminating Iran's rocket sites and the stopping atomic bomb programs were listed as additional aims of the offensive. Satellite images also depicted damage at the southerly Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were struck.

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

Impact was also noted at a surveillance station at the Zahedan military airport in eastern parts of the country, near the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Of particular note, the latest wave of attacks have reportedly hit installations at Natanz – widely believed to be at the core of the country's nuclear programme. An international watchdog commented that the damaged structures were used for access to the facility's underground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was expected.

Broader Impact and Analysis

Observers indicated that the offensive appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's capacity to sustain conventional attacks using its biggest vessels. But, it was emphasised that Iran maintains the capacity to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, mini-submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.

The total scale of the destruction caused to Iran's defense infrastructure is still uncertain, with attacks reportedly persisting. Imagery also indicates extensive damage to the command center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.

Numerous of non-military structures also are reported to have been hit in the capital and across the country after the conflict began. Toll estimates from inside Iran indicate that a high number of non-combatants may have been killed in the attacks.

Amid continuing hostilities, analysis of space-based data will carry on to document the changing military landscape.