🔗 Share this article

Multiple joint strikes has allegedly destroyed or damaged no fewer than 11 warships belonging to Iran since the weekend, recently obtained orbital imagery reveal, with launch facilities and enrichment plants also being targeted.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas facility, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz and contains the main command of the Iran's naval force, depict plumes of smoke rising from a number of vessels on the start of the week.

Naval Assets Incurred Substantial Losses

Included in the targets eliminated was the Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had functioned as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Satellite images indicated dark plumes emanating from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical assessments state that no fewer than five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Photos of the south end of the port show smoke emanating from the Makran, while additional vessels are visibly impacted, with one clearly on fire.

At the Konarak base, photos reveal numerous harmed ships, with intelligence reports pointing to impacts on a half-dozen warships. Photos taken on Monday also indicate that several structures at the installation have been destroyed.

"For a long time the Iran's leadership has threatened commercial vessels," an American commander declared. "Now, there is no Iranian ship at sea in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."

Some ships allegedly sunk may have been concealed in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or hit in open waters, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Additional information suggested that a ship from Iran was foundering off the coast of Sri Lankan territorial waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Missile Installations and Atomic Facilities Targeted

The destruction of Iran's rocket sites and the prevention of nuclear weapons development were listed as other objectives of the air campaign. Aerial imagery also depicted damage at the southern Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were hit.

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

Damage was also seen at a radar installation at the Zahedan military airport in eastern Iran, close to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most notably, the most recent series of strikes have reportedly focused on installations at Natanz – considered at the center of the country's enrichment efforts. An international watchdog said that the damaged buildings were used for access to the facility's underground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was expected.

Wider Consequences and Assessment

Military analysts stated that the offensive appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iranian navy's ability to sustain traditional warfare using its largest warships. But, it was emphasised that Tehran retains the option to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of tankers.

The overall scale of the destruction caused to Iranian military infrastructure is still uncertain, with strikes said to be ongoing. Imagery also reveals considerable damage to the headquarters of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.

A significant number of public facilities also seem to have been hit in the capital city and throughout the country after the fighting started. Toll estimates from inside Iran state that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the bombardment.

With the conflict ongoing, analysis of aerial photographs will carry on to track the evolving military landscape.