🔗 Share this article

Multiple American and Israeli strikes has according to analysis sunk or crippled no fewer than 11 warships belonging to Iran starting the weekend, new satellite images reveal, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also sustaining hits.

Images of the southerly Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the headquarters of the Iranian navy, show smoke billowing from several warships on the start of the week.

Maritime Forces Sustained Significant Losses

Included in the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery displayed black smoke pouring from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence assessments state that no fewer than five vessels at the port were "struck or destroyed". Pictures of the south end of the port depict smoke emanating from the Makran, while two other ships are visibly damaged, with one visibly ablaze.

Over at the Konarak base, photos display several damaged ships, with expert review pointing to impacts on six ships. Photos taken on Monday also demonstrate that several structures at the base have been destroyed.

"For many years the Tehran government has disrupted commercial vessels," an American commander said. "At present, there is not one Iranian ship at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."

Some ships reportedly sunk may have been concealed in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or struck at sea, and have not been independently verified. Additional information indicated that one Iranian ship was sinking near Sri Lankan territorial waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Missile Installations and Atomic Facilities Hit

Eliminating Iranian missile bases and the prevention of atomic bomb programs were stated as further objectives of the military strikes. Satellite images also depicted damage at the southern Khorgu and northwestern Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base west of Kermanshah, significant destruction was observed to warehouses, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Destruction was also observed at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, near the frontier with neighboring nations.

Significantly, the most recent series of strikes have apparently targeted sites at the Natanz complex – long said to be at the heart of Iran's enrichment efforts. An international watchdog said that the damaged buildings were used for entry to the site's underground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was expected.

Wider Fallout and Assessment

Defense experts indicated that the offensive appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's capability to carry out standard operations using its biggest warships. But, it was emphasised that Iran retains the option to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of drones, mini-submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of tankers.

The full scale of the destruction caused to Iran's defense facilities is still uncertain, with attacks said to be continuing. Photos also indicates considerable destruction to the headquarters of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.

A large number of non-military structures also seem to have been hit in the capital city and across Iran since the fighting began. Toll estimates from local officials suggest that a high number of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the attacks.

With the conflict ongoing, review of aerial photographs will persist to track the unfolding military landscape.