🔗 Share this article

A wave of American and Israeli attacks has allegedly destroyed or damaged a minimum of 11 warships belonging to Iran starting the weekend, new orbital imagery demonstrate, with missile bases and enrichment plants also being targeted.

Images of the southerly Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the headquarters of the Iranian navy, show black smoke pouring from several warships on recent days.

Maritime Assets Incurred Substantial Losses

Among the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, the country's most sizable ship which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery showed black smoke emanating from the vessel which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence reports state that no fewer than five vessels at the port were "damaged or eliminated". Pictures of the southern end of the harbor show smoke rising from the Makran, while two other ships appear to be impacted, with a single one visibly ablaze.

Over at the Konarak base, images reveal several stricken vessels, with intelligence reports identifying damage to a half-dozen warships. Images from Monday also indicate that a number of facilities at the installation have been leveled.

"For a long time the Iran's leadership has harassed global maritime traffic," an American commander stated. "At present, there is no Iranian ship operational in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."

Some ships reportedly sunk may have been hidden in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or targeted offshore, and have not been independently verified. Additional information suggested that a ship from Iran was going down off the coast of Sri Lanka's waters, resulting in a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Bases and Atomic Locations Attacked

Neutralizing Iranian missile bases and the prevention of nuclear weapons development were listed as further goals of the air campaign. Satellite images also revealed impacts against the southerly Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where weapons bunkers and fortifications were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e UAV facility to the west of the city of Kermanshah, extensive destruction was observed to storage buildings, bunkers and unmanned aircraft systems.

Damage was also observed at a radar installation at the Zahedan military airport in eastern Iran, close to the border with neighboring nations.

Significantly, the latest wave of strikes have reportedly targeted installations at Natanz – widely believed to be at the center of Iran's nuclear programme. The UN's atomic energy body said that the damaged buildings were used for entry to the facility's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no nuclear fallout" was likely.

Wider Fallout and Analysis

Defense experts indicated that the attacks appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iran's naval ability to sustain standard operations using its most significant warships. However, it was stressed that Iran retains the option to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of tankers.

The total scope of the destruction caused to Iranian military infrastructure is still uncertain, with strikes reportedly ongoing. Photos also indicates extensive destruction to the headquarters of the the IRGC in the city of Tehran.

A large number of public facilities also appear to have been struck in the capital city and across the country after the hostilities escalated. Casualty figures from inside Iran suggest that a high number of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the attacks.

With the conflict ongoing, monitoring of aerial photographs will carry on to track the evolving battlefield picture.