🔗 Share this article

A wave of US and Israeli attacks has reportedly sunk or crippled a minimum of eleven Iranian naval vessels since Saturday, freshly analyzed satellite images reveal, with missile bases and atomic facilities also coming under fire.

Images of the southern Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and is home to the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, depict black smoke pouring from a number of warships on recent days.

Maritime Forces Sustained Substantial Damage

Included in the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery indicated thick smoke pouring from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence assessments suggest that at least five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "damaged or eliminated". Imagery of the southern part of the harbor reveal smoke emanating from the Makran, while two other ships appear to be impacted, with one visibly ablaze.

Over at the Konarak base, images display numerous harmed vessels, with analysis identifying strikes against six vessels. Photos from Monday also show that a number of structures at the base have been leveled.

"For decades the Iranian regime has disrupted international shipping," the head of US Central Command said. "Today, there is not a single vessel from Iran at sea in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."

Some vessels reportedly sunk may have been obscured in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or targeted offshore, and have not been conclusively proven. Separate reports indicated that a ship from Iran was sinking near Sri Lankan territorial waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Sites and Atomic Locations Targeted

Neutralizing Iran's rocket sites and the stopping nuclear weapons development were declared as further objectives of the air campaign. Aerial imagery also depicted damage at the southern Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and bunkers were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e unmanned aircraft site to the west of the city of Kermanshah, extensive damage was seen to sheds, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.

Destruction was also observed at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase in eastern Iran, near the frontier with neighboring nations.

Significantly, the latest wave of strikes have reportedly hit installations at the Natanz complex – considered at the heart of the country's enrichment efforts. A global monitoring agency stated that the damaged structures were used for access to the facility's underground enrichment facility and that "no radiological consequence" was anticipated.

Broader Fallout and Assessment

Defense experts indicated that the attacks appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iran's naval ability to carry out standard operations using its largest vessels. Nevertheless, it was stressed that Tehran 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 oil ships.

The total scale of the damage caused to Iranian military infrastructure has yet to be fully assessed, with hostilities reportedly persisting. Pictures also indicates considerable destruction to the command center of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.

Numerous of public facilities also seem to have been struck in the capital and across the country since the conflict escalated. Reports of deaths from ground sources suggest that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the bombardment.

As the situation develops, review of space-based data will carry on to document the changing scope of damage.