🔗 Share this article

A wave of US and Israeli strikes has allegedly eliminated or harmed a minimum of 11 warships belonging to Iran starting the weekend, new aerial photos reveal, with rocket sites and nuclear sites also being targeted.

Images of the southern Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and houses the main command of the Iranian navy, show smoke billowing from multiple vessels on the start of the week.

Naval Forces Incurred Major Losses

Included in the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, Iran's largest naval vessel which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Satellite images indicated black smoke pouring from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical evaluations indicate that at least a quintet of warships at the port were "damaged or eliminated". Photos of the southern end of the harbor show smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of vessels seem to be harmed, with one visibly ablaze.

Over at Konarak, photos display several damaged vessels, with analysis identifying impacts on six vessels. Images from the start of the week also indicate that several structures at the base have been destroyed.

"For decades the Iranian regime has disrupted international shipping," a senior US military official stated. "Today, there is not one vessel from Iran operational in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."

A number of ships reportedly destroyed may have been obscured in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or hit in open waters, and have not been conclusively proven. Additional information stated that an Iranian vessel was foundering off the coast of Sri Lanka's territorial waters, prompting a rescue operation.

Rocket Bases and Nuclear Facilities Targeted

Neutralizing Tehran's launch facilities and the prevention of enrichment activities were declared as other goals of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also depicted strikes on the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone unmanned aircraft site to the west of the city of Kermanshah, significant destruction was seen to warehouses, bunkers and UAV launching apparatus.

Damage was also observed at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, near the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most notably, the new round of strikes have reportedly targeted installations at Natanz – considered at the heart of the country's enrichment efforts. An international watchdog commented that the affected buildings were used for entry to the site's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.

Broader Impact and Assessment

Observers suggested that the attacks appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iranian navy's capacity to carry out conventional attacks using its largest vessels. However, it was emphasised that Tehran still has the capacity to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.

The overall scale of the damage caused to Iranian military facilities is still uncertain, with strikes said to be continuing. Imagery also indicates considerable damage to the main offices of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the city of Tehran.

A large number of civilian buildings also seem to have been hit in the capital and across Iran after the conflict escalated. Reports of deaths from local officials state that hundreds of civilians may have been lost their lives in the strikes.

With the conflict ongoing, review of space-based data will persist to assess the evolving battlefield picture.