🔗 Share this article

Multiple American and Israeli airstrikes has according to analysis sunk or crippled a minimum of 11 warships belonging to Iran since Saturday, recently obtained satellite images demonstrate, with missile bases and enrichment plants also sustaining hits.

Photographs of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas installation, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the headquarters of the Iranian navy, show plumes of smoke rising from multiple vessels on recent days.

Maritime Forces Incurred Major Damage

Included in the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, the country's biggest warship which had served as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery displayed dark plumes rising from the vessel which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence assessments suggest that at least a quintet of warships at the port were "damaged or eliminated". Imagery of the southern end of the port reveal plumes ascending from the Makran, while two other vessels appear to be impacted, with one of them seen burning.

Over at the Konarak base, images display multiple stricken ships, with expert review identifying damage to a half-dozen warships. Photos taken on the start of the week also indicate that multiple facilities at the installation have been destroyed.

"For a long time the Iran's leadership has threatened commercial vessels," the head of US Central Command said. "Now, there is not one Iranian ship at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."

A number of ships allegedly destroyed may have been hidden in satellite images by haze or plumes, or targeted offshore, and have not been conclusively proven. Separate reports indicated that a ship from Iran was foundering near Sri Lankan territorial waters, resulting in a rescue operation.

Missile Bases and Atomic Facilities Targeted

Eliminating Iran's rocket sites and the prevention of atomic bomb programs were stated as other aims of the military strikes. Satellite images also depicted strikes on the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak base, where weapons bunkers and bunkers were struck.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e UAV facility west of Kermanshah, widespread damage was seen to storage buildings, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.

Impact was also seen at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase in eastern Iran, near the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most notably, the new round of attacks have apparently focused on installations at Natanz – widely believed to be at the center of the country's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body commented that the affected buildings were used for entry to the site's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no release of radioactive material" was likely.

Wider Consequences and Assessment

Military analysts stated that the strikes appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iran's naval ability to carry out traditional warfare using its biggest vessels. But, it was noted that Iran maintains the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of drones, midget subs and its so-called "ghost fleet" of oil ships.

The total scale of the damage caused to Iran's defense facilities is still uncertain, with attacks said to be continuing. Imagery also indicates widespread damage to the headquarters of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the city of Tehran.

Numerous of civilian buildings also are reported to have been hit in the capital and throughout Iran since the conflict escalated. Casualty figures from ground sources suggest that a high number of non-combatants may have been killed in the bombardment.

As the situation develops, analysis of aerial photographs will persist to assess the unfolding battlefield picture.