🔗 Share this article

Multiple US and Israeli airstrikes has allegedly destroyed or damaged a minimum of eleven Iranian naval vessels starting the weekend, freshly analyzed aerial photos reveal, with missile bases and enrichment plants also sustaining hits.

Images of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, reveal plumes of smoke rising from a number of ships on Monday and Tuesday.

Maritime Fleet Sustained Significant Damage

Included in the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, the country's most sizable ship which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos showed dark plumes emanating from the vessel which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence reports indicate that at least five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "damaged or eliminated". Photos of the south end of the harbor show plumes ascending from the Makran, while another pair of ships are visibly impacted, with one of them clearly on fire.

At Konarak, photos show numerous harmed vessels, with expert review identifying damage to six vessels. Pictures from the start of the week also demonstrate that a number of facilities at the installation have been demolished.

"For decades the Iranian regime has harassed commercial vessels," an American commander stated. "Today, there is not a single Iranian ship operational in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will continue."

Some vessels reportedly sunk may have been hidden in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or struck at sea, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Additional information indicated that a ship from Iran was going down near Sri Lankan waters, leading to a rescue operation.

Rocket Installations and Atomic Locations Attacked

Neutralizing Iranian missile bases and the stopping atomic bomb programs were stated as additional goals of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also showed damage at the southern Khorgu and northwestern Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air air base, where weapons bunkers and fortifications were targeted.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone base west of the city of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was seen to sheds, bunkers and unmanned aircraft systems.

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

Of particular note, the most recent series of attacks have reportedly targeted facilities at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the core of Iran's enrichment efforts. The UN's atomic energy body stated that the damaged structures were used for access to the site's underground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was likely.

Wider Consequences and Analysis

Defense experts stated that the attacks appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iranian navy's capability to sustain standard operations using its most significant vessels. However, it was stressed that Iran still has the capacity to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.

The full scale of the destruction caused to Iranian military facilities is still uncertain, with attacks reportedly continuing. Pictures also shows extensive damage to the main offices of the the IRGC in the city of Tehran.

A significant number of non-military structures also seem to have been struck in the capital and across Iran after the hostilities started. Casualty figures from inside Iran state that hundreds of civilians may have been killed in the strikes.

Amid continuing hostilities, analysis of aerial photographs will persist to document the changing battlefield picture.