🔗 Share this article

A wave of US and Israeli attacks has allegedly eliminated or harmed at least eleven warships belonging to Iran starting the weekend, freshly analyzed satellite images demonstrate, with missile bases and atomic facilities also coming under fire.

Photographs of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and is home to the main command of the Iran's naval force, depict black smoke pouring from a number of vessels on the start of the week.

Maritime Fleet Incurred Significant Damage

Included in the targets eliminated was the IRINS Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Satellite images showed black smoke rising from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence reports indicate that at least a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern end of the harbor reveal smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while two other ships appear to be impacted, with one of them seen burning.

Over at Konarak, images reveal several harmed vessels, with analysis identifying damage to six ships. Pictures taken on Monday also demonstrate that multiple facilities at the base have been leveled.

"For decades the Iran's leadership has threatened commercial vessels," a senior US military official said. "Now, there is no Iranian vessel operational in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will continue."

A number of ships reportedly sunk may have been obscured in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or targeted offshore, and have not been independently verified. Additional information suggested that one Iranian ship was foundering off the coast of Sri Lankan waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Missile Bases and Atomic Locations Attacked

The destruction of Iranian missile bases and the prevention of enrichment activities were stated as further goals of the air campaign. Satellite images also depicted strikes on the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base to the west of Kermanshah, extensive damage was observed to sheds, underground facilities and UAV launching apparatus.

Impact was also seen at a radar installation at the Zahedan military airport in eastern parts of the country, near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of strikes have reportedly focused on installations at Natanz – long said to be at the heart of the country's atomic program. A global monitoring agency said that the affected structures were used for access to the site's underground enrichment facility and that "no radiological consequence" was likely.

Wider Impact and Analysis

Defense experts indicated that the strikes appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iran's naval capacity to conduct standard operations using its largest vessels. But, it was emphasised that Iran maintains the option to launch unconventional attacks 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 destruction caused to Iran's defense infrastructure is still uncertain, with attacks said to be continuing. Photos also reveals widespread damage to the headquarters of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.

A significant number of public facilities also are reported to have been damaged in the capital and across the country after the hostilities escalated. Toll estimates from ground sources indicate that many hundreds of civilians may have been fatally injured in the strikes.

As the situation develops, monitoring of aerial photographs will persist to document the unfolding scope of damage.