🔗 Share this article

Multiple joint attacks has according to analysis destroyed or damaged no fewer than eleven warships belonging to Iran since Saturday, recently obtained orbital imagery demonstrate, with launch facilities and enrichment plants also coming under fire.

Photographs of the southerly Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz and houses the main command of the Iranian navy, reveal smoke billowing from several ships on Monday and Tuesday.

Naval Forces Incurred Major Losses

Among the vessels destroyed was the Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had functioned as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos displayed thick smoke emanating from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical assessments state that at least five ships at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Photos of the southern part of the port show plumes ascending from the Makran, while additional vessels appear to be harmed, with one of them clearly on fire.

At the Konarak base, images show numerous stricken vessels, with expert review pointing to strikes against six vessels. Pictures from the start of the week also show that a number of facilities at the base have been leveled.

"For decades the Tehran government has threatened global maritime traffic," the head of US Central Command stated. "At present, there is no Iranian vessel underway in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."

Some ships reportedly sunk may have been obscured in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or targeted offshore, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Other accounts suggested that one Iranian ship was sinking off the coast of Sri Lanka's waters, prompting a rescue operation.

Rocket Sites and Atomic Locations Hit

Neutralizing Tehran's launch facilities and the stopping enrichment activities were listed as further objectives of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also depicted damage at the southern Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were hit.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone base to the west of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was observed to storage buildings, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Destruction was also observed at a surveillance station at the Zahedan military airport in eastern parts of the country, near the border with neighboring nations.

Significantly, the new round of strikes have reportedly hit sites at Natanz – widely believed to be at the heart of the country's enrichment efforts. A global monitoring agency stated that the affected buildings were used for entry to the site's underground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was expected.

Wider Fallout and Analysis

Military analysts stated that the attacks appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iranian navy's capacity to sustain standard operations using its biggest vessels. However, it was noted that Tehran retains the capacity to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, mini-submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of oil ships.

The full scale of the damage caused to Iran's defense facilities is still uncertain, with attacks reportedly continuing. Photos also reveals widespread destruction to the main offices of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the city of Tehran.

Numerous of civilian buildings also seem to have been hit in the capital and across Iran since the hostilities escalated. Casualty figures from ground sources indicate that many hundreds of civilians may have been killed in the bombardment.

As the situation develops, analysis of space-based data will carry on to track the unfolding military landscape.