🔗 Share this article

A series of joint strikes has according to analysis sunk or crippled at least eleven Iran's navy ships since the weekend, freshly analyzed satellite images show, with rocket sites and enrichment plants also sustaining hits.

Images of the southern Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and houses the headquarters of the Iranian navy, show smoke billowing from multiple ships on the start of the week.

Naval Fleet Sustained Major Damage

Among the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, Iran's largest naval vessel which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Satellite images displayed black smoke emanating from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence evaluations state that no fewer than a quintet of warships at the port were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern part of the port show smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of ships appear to be damaged, with one of them visibly ablaze.

Over at Konarak, photos show numerous stricken vessels, with analysis identifying damage to a half-dozen warships. Photos from Monday also indicate that multiple structures at the base have been demolished.

"For a long time the Tehran government has threatened international shipping," a senior US military official stated. "Now, there is not a single Iranian ship at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."

A number of vessels allegedly destroyed may have been hidden in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or struck at sea, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Separate reports suggested that an Iranian vessel was sinking off the coast of Sri Lankan territorial waters, resulting in a rescue operation.

Rocket Bases and Nuclear Locations Hit

Neutralizing Iran's rocket sites and the prevention of nuclear weapons development were listed as further goals of the air campaign. Aerial imagery also showed damage at the southern Khorgu and northwestern Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were targeted.

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

Destruction was also seen at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.

Significantly, the new round of strikes have reportedly hit facilities at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the core of Iran's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body commented that the affected buildings were used for access to the facility's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no nuclear fallout" was expected.

Wider Consequences and Assessment

Observers suggested that the strikes appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval capacity to sustain traditional warfare using its largest warships. But, it was emphasised that Tehran still has the option to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of drones, mini-submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of oil ships.

The full extent of the damage caused to Iran's defense facilities is still uncertain, with attacks said to be ongoing. Photos also reveals considerable destruction to the headquarters of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.

Numerous of non-military structures also are reported to have been hit in the capital city and throughout the country after the conflict began. Toll estimates from inside Iran suggest that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the bombardment.

Amid continuing hostilities, analysis of aerial photographs will continue to assess the evolving battlefield picture.