🔗 Share this article

Multiple American and Israeli strikes has reportedly eliminated or harmed a minimum of 11 warships belonging to Iran since the weekend, freshly analyzed aerial photos demonstrate, with missile bases and atomic facilities also being targeted.

Photographs of the southern Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas installation, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the headquarters of the Iranian navy, reveal smoke billowing from multiple ships on recent days.

Naval Assets Incurred Major Losses

Among the ships sunk was the Makran, the country's most sizable ship which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Satellite images displayed black smoke pouring from the ship which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Analytical assessments indicate that no fewer than five vessels at the port were "hit or sunk". Pictures of the south end of the port depict plumes ascending from the IRINS Makran, while additional vessels seem to be impacted, with one visibly ablaze.

At the Konarak base, images show several harmed ships, with analysis identifying damage to six vessels. Images from the start of the week also demonstrate that multiple buildings at the installation have been destroyed.

"For a long time the Tehran government has disrupted commercial vessels," a senior US military official said. "Now, there is not one vessel from Iran operational in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will not stop."

Some ships allegedly destroyed may have been concealed in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or targeted offshore, and have not been conclusively proven. Separate reports indicated that one Iranian ship was sinking off the coast of Sri Lanka's waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Installations and Nuclear Locations Targeted

Neutralizing Iranian missile bases and the prevention of atomic bomb programs were declared as additional goals of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also showed strikes on the southern Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where weapons bunkers and bunkers were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone unmanned aircraft site west of Kermanshah, significant destruction was observed to warehouses, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Destruction was also noted at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern parts of the country, close to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Of particular note, the latest wave of attacks have reportedly targeted sites at the Natanz complex – long said to be at the center of the country's nuclear programme. The UN's atomic energy body stated that the damaged structures were used for access to the facility's underground nuclear plant and that "no release of radioactive material" was likely.

Broader Consequences and Analysis

Defense experts suggested that the attacks appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval capability to sustain standard operations using its most significant vessels. But, it was noted that Iran maintains the option to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "shadow fleet" of oil ships.

The full scope of the destruction caused to Iranian military infrastructure is still uncertain, with attacks reportedly persisting. Pictures also shows extensive damage to the command center of the the IRGC in the city of Tehran.

Numerous of non-military structures also appear to have been hit in the capital city and across the country after the hostilities began. Casualty figures from ground sources suggest that hundreds of civilians may have been fatally injured in the bombardment.

With the conflict ongoing, review of aerial photographs will persist to track the unfolding military landscape.