🔗 Share this article

A wave of joint strikes has reportedly destroyed or damaged no fewer than 11 Iran's navy ships starting the weekend, freshly analyzed satellite images demonstrate, with rocket sites and enrichment plants also being targeted.

Pictures of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas installation, which overlooks the strategic Hormuz Strait and is home to the main command of the Iran's naval force, reveal plumes of smoke rising from a number of ships on Monday and Tuesday.

Naval Assets Incurred Major Damage

Included in the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had been used as a drone carrier. Satellite images displayed black smoke emanating from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence reports state that at least five ships at the port were "hit or sunk". Photos of the southern end of the harbor show plumes ascending from the Makran, while another pair of ships seem to be impacted, with one of them clearly on fire.

Over at Konarak, photos reveal several stricken vessels, with intelligence reports pointing to impacts on a half-dozen warships. Photos from the start of the week also demonstrate that a number of buildings at the base have been destroyed.

"For decades the Iran's leadership has harassed international shipping," the head of US Central Command said. "Now, there is not one Iranian vessel at sea in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."

A number of ships allegedly destroyed may have been concealed in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or hit in open waters, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts indicated that an Iranian vessel was going down near Sri Lankan territorial waters, prompting a search and rescue mission.

Missile Sites and Nuclear Locations Hit

The destruction of Tehran's launch facilities and the prevention of nuclear weapons development were declared as further aims of the air campaign. Satellite images also showed damage at the southern Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where weapons bunkers and fortifications were hit.

At the Choqa Balk-e UAV facility to the west of the city of Kermanshah, extensive destruction was observed to warehouses, bunkers and UAV launching apparatus.

Destruction was also seen at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, near the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Of particular note, the most recent series of strikes have apparently hit facilities at the Natanz complex – long said to be at the center of Iran's enrichment efforts. A global monitoring agency commented that the affected structures were used for entry to the facility's underground nuclear plant and that "no nuclear fallout" was likely.

Broader Consequences and Assessment

Military analysts suggested that the offensive appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's ability to conduct traditional warfare using its biggest vessels. But, it was noted that Tehran still has the capacity to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, mini-submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.

The full extent of the damage caused to Iranian military infrastructure is still uncertain, with strikes said to be continuing. Photos also shows extensive destruction to the main offices of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.

Numerous of civilian buildings also are reported to have been damaged in the capital and across Iran after the conflict started. Reports of deaths from local officials suggest that hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the strikes.

Amid continuing hostilities, monitoring of aerial photographs will persist to track the changing battlefield picture.