🔗 Share this article

A series of joint attacks has allegedly destroyed or damaged a minimum of 11 warships belonging to Iran since the weekend, freshly analyzed aerial photos show, with launch facilities and enrichment plants also sustaining hits.

Images of the southern Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas facility, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and contains the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, depict black smoke pouring from several ships on recent days.

Naval Fleet Incurred Major Losses

Among the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, Iran's largest naval vessel which had functioned as a drone carrier. Satellite images displayed black smoke rising from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence assessments indicate that no fewer than five ships at the port were "damaged or eliminated". Pictures of the south end of the harbor depict smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while two other ships appear to be impacted, with a single one clearly on fire.

Over at the Konarak base, photos reveal several damaged vessels, with intelligence reports identifying strikes against a half-dozen warships. Images taken on Monday also indicate that a number of buildings at the installation have been destroyed.

"For many years the Iranian regime has threatened international shipping," a senior US military official said. "At present, there is not one Iranian vessel at sea in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Sea of Oman, and we will not stop."

Some ships allegedly destroyed may have been obscured in satellite images by weather conditions or battle damage, or struck at sea, and have not been conclusively proven. Separate reports indicated that one Iranian ship was foundering off the coast of Sri Lanka's territorial waters, resulting in a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Bases and Atomic Facilities Targeted

Neutralizing Tehran's launch facilities and the stopping nuclear weapons development were listed as other aims of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also showed strikes on the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and bunkers were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone UAV facility west of Kermanshah, significant damage was observed to warehouses, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Damage was also observed at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase in eastern Iran, close to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of strikes have reportedly focused on sites at Natanz – considered at the core of Iran's nuclear programme. The UN's atomic energy body said that the affected buildings were used for entry to the site's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no release of radioactive material" was expected.

Wider Impact and Assessment

Defense experts indicated that the attacks appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's capability to conduct conventional attacks using its biggest warships. But, it was stressed that Tehran still has the capacity to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of tankers.

The overall scope of the damage caused to Iran's defense facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with strikes said to be persisting. Pictures also reveals widespread damage to the headquarters of the the IRGC in the capital Tehran.

A large number of civilian buildings also seem to have been struck in the capital and throughout the country since the hostilities escalated. Reports of deaths from inside Iran state that many hundreds of civilians may have been killed in the strikes.

Amid continuing hostilities, monitoring of space-based data will carry on to track the evolving scope of damage.