🔗 Share this article

Multiple US and Israeli attacks has according to analysis destroyed or damaged a minimum of eleven Iran's navy ships starting Saturday, recently obtained aerial photos demonstrate, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also coming under fire.

Images of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and houses the main command of the Iranian navy, show smoke billowing from several vessels on recent days.

Maritime Fleet Incurred Major Losses

Included in the ships sunk was the Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had served as a drone carrier. Orbital photos indicated thick smoke emanating from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical evaluations suggest that at least a quintet of warships at the port were "hit or sunk". Photos of the southern end of the harbor depict plumes ascending from the IRINS Makran, while additional vessels are visibly damaged, with one of them visibly ablaze.

At the Konarak base, images display numerous stricken ships, with analysis identifying impacts on six ships. Pictures taken on Monday also indicate that several buildings at the base have been demolished.

"For decades the Iranian regime has harassed global maritime traffic," a senior US military official stated. "Now, there is no vessel from Iran at sea in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."

Some ships reportedly sunk may have been concealed in aerial photos by haze or plumes, or struck at sea, and have not been independently verified. Separate reports suggested that a ship from Iran was foundering off the coast of Sri Lanka's territorial waters, resulting in a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Bases and Atomic Locations Attacked

The destruction of Iran's rocket sites and the hindering of enrichment activities were stated as additional objectives of the military strikes. Satellite images also depicted impacts against the southern Khorgu and northwestern Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were targeted.

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

Damage was also observed at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern parts of the country, near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Significantly, the new round of strikes have reportedly hit sites at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the core of the country's enrichment efforts. The UN's atomic energy body said that the damaged buildings were used for entry to the site's underground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.

Wider Fallout and Analysis

Military analysts indicated that the attacks appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iran's naval capacity to carry out conventional attacks using its most significant vessels. Nevertheless, it was emphasised that Tehran still has the ability to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, mini-submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of tankers.

The total scale of the destruction caused to Iranian military infrastructure is still uncertain, with attacks said to be ongoing. Imagery also shows extensive damage to the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.

A significant number of public facilities also are reported to have been damaged in the capital and across the country since the fighting escalated. Reports of deaths from inside Iran state that a high number of civilians may have been fatally injured in the bombardment.

Amid continuing hostilities, analysis of aerial photographs will carry on to document the evolving scope of damage.