🔗 Share this article

A series of American and Israeli airstrikes has according to analysis eliminated or harmed at least eleven warships belonging to Iran starting Saturday, freshly analyzed aerial photos show, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also coming under fire.

Photographs of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas facility, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, depict smoke billowing from a number of ships on recent days.

Naval Fleet Incurred Major Damage

Among the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, the country's biggest warship which had been used as a drone carrier. Satellite images indicated dark plumes emanating from the vessel which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence assessments indicate that at least five ships at the port were "damaged or eliminated". Pictures of the south end of the port reveal plumes ascending from the Makran, while another pair of vessels seem to be impacted, with one visibly ablaze.

Over at the Konarak base, images show numerous damaged ships, with analysis pointing to impacts on a half-dozen warships. Images taken on the start of the week also show that several buildings at the installation have been leveled.

"For a long time the Iran's leadership has disrupted international shipping," a senior US military official stated. "Now, there is not one vessel from Iran at sea in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."

A number of vessels allegedly sunk may have been concealed in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or targeted offshore, and have not been independently verified. Additional information suggested that one Iranian ship was foundering near Sri Lankan waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Missile Bases and Atomic Facilities Hit

The destruction of Iran's rocket sites and the hindering of enrichment activities were declared as additional aims of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also revealed strikes on the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where weapons bunkers and bunkers were targeted.

At the Choqa Balk-e UAV facility to the west of the city of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was identified to sheds, bunkers and UAV launching apparatus.

Destruction was also observed at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.

Significantly, the new round of strikes have reportedly focused on facilities at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the heart of the country's atomic program. A global monitoring agency said that the damaged structures were used for entry to the facility's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no release of radioactive material" was expected.

Wider Fallout and Assessment

Defense experts suggested that the offensive appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iran's naval capability to carry out traditional warfare using its most significant warships. However, it was stressed that Tehran still has the ability to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, mini-submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.

The full scale of the destruction caused to Iranian military facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with hostilities reportedly persisting. Photos also reveals extensive destruction to the command center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.

A significant number of civilian buildings also are reported to have been hit in the capital and throughout the country since the fighting escalated. Casualty figures from local officials suggest that a high number of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the strikes.

With the conflict ongoing, monitoring of satellite imagery will continue to assess the evolving battlefield picture.