🔗 Share this article

A series of US and Israeli strikes has according to analysis sunk or crippled a minimum of 11 Iran's navy ships since Saturday, recently obtained orbital imagery demonstrate, with launch facilities and atomic facilities also coming under fire.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas installation, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and contains the main command of the Iranian navy, depict black smoke pouring from several warships on the start of the week.

Maritime Forces Sustained Significant Damage

Included in the targets eliminated was the Makran, the country's largest naval vessel which had been used as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery showed thick smoke pouring from the ship which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Analytical assessments indicate that no fewer than five ships at the port were "struck or destroyed". Photos of the southern part of the port depict smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while two other vessels appear to be damaged, with one of them clearly on fire.

Over at Konarak, images reveal numerous damaged vessels, with analysis identifying impacts on six vessels. Pictures from Monday also show that multiple buildings at the installation have been demolished.

"For decades the Iranian regime has threatened commercial vessels," the head of US Central Command declared. "Today, there is not a single Iranian ship at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."

Some ships allegedly sunk may have been obscured in satellite images by haze or plumes, or struck at sea, and have not been conclusively proven. Additional information stated that one Iranian ship was going down off the coast of Sri Lankan territorial waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Missile Sites and Atomic Locations Targeted

Neutralizing Iran's rocket sites and the stopping atomic bomb programs were declared as other objectives of the military strikes. Satellite images also showed strikes on the southerly Khorgu and northwestern Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone base west of the city of Kermanshah, extensive destruction was identified to storage buildings, bunkers and UAV launching apparatus.

Destruction was also seen at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase in eastern Iran, close to the border with neighboring nations.

Of particular note, the latest wave of strikes have apparently targeted installations at the Natanz complex – long said to be at the heart of the country's enrichment efforts. A global monitoring agency said that the affected buildings were used for access to the site's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was expected.

Wider Consequences and Analysis

Military analysts indicated that the strikes appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iran's naval ability to carry out standard operations using its most significant warships. However, it was noted that Tehran still has the option to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.

The overall scale of the destruction caused to Iran's defense infrastructure is still uncertain, with attacks said to be continuing. Photos also shows considerable damage to the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.

A significant number of non-military structures also are reported to have been struck in the capital and across Iran since the hostilities escalated. Toll estimates from inside Iran suggest that a high number of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the strikes.

As the situation develops, monitoring of satellite imagery will continue to track the unfolding scope of damage.