🔗 Share this article

Multiple US and Israeli strikes has according to analysis eliminated or harmed at least 11 warships belonging to Iran starting the weekend, recently obtained satellite images reveal, with missile bases and enrichment plants also coming under fire.

Photographs of the southerly Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz and houses the headquarters of the Iranian navy, depict smoke billowing from several ships on recent days.

Maritime Forces Incurred Significant Losses

Among the vessels destroyed was the Makran, Iran's largest naval vessel which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos indicated thick smoke rising from the ship which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence reports indicate that no fewer than a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "damaged or eliminated". Pictures of the southern end of the port depict smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while two other vessels appear to be impacted, with one seen burning.

Over at the Konarak base, images reveal multiple harmed ships, with expert review pointing to impacts on a half-dozen warships. Photos from the start of the week also indicate that multiple structures at the installation have been leveled.

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

A number of vessels reportedly destroyed may have been hidden in satellite images by weather conditions or battle damage, or hit in open waters, and have not been conclusively proven. Additional information indicated that an Iranian vessel was sinking off the coast of Sri Lanka's territorial waters, resulting in a rescue operation.

Missile Bases and Nuclear Locations Targeted

The destruction of Iranian missile bases and the prevention of enrichment activities were stated as further objectives of the offensive. Aerial imagery also showed strikes on the southerly Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where weapons bunkers and bunkers were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone unmanned aircraft site west of Kermanshah, significant damage was observed to storage buildings, bunkers and UAV launching apparatus.

Damage 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.

Perhaps most notably, the new round of attacks have reportedly targeted sites at Natanz – long said to be at the center of Iran's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body said that the damaged structures were used for entry to the facility's underground enrichment facility and that "no release of radioactive material" was anticipated.

Wider Fallout and Analysis

Military analysts indicated that the strikes appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iran's naval capacity to carry out traditional warfare using its most significant vessels. But, it was noted that Tehran retains the option to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.

The total scale of the damage caused to Iranian military infrastructure has yet to be fully assessed, with strikes reportedly continuing. Pictures also reveals extensive destruction to the main offices of the the IRGC in the city of Tehran.

Numerous of public facilities also are reported to have been damaged in the capital city and throughout Iran after the hostilities escalated. Toll estimates from local officials indicate that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the bombardment.

As the situation develops, analysis of satellite imagery will persist to document the unfolding military landscape.