Satellite Images Show Iran's Navy and Nuclear Facilities Damaged by Joint US and Israeli Attacks.
A wave of US and Israeli airstrikes has reportedly eliminated or harmed a minimum of eleven Iran's navy ships since Saturday, new aerial photos reveal, with launch facilities and atomic facilities also sustaining hits.
Photographs of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and is home to the headquarters of the Iranian navy, depict black smoke pouring from a number of vessels on recent days.
Naval Forces Sustained Major Damage
Among the targets eliminated was the IRINS Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had been used as a drone carrier. Satellite images indicated thick smoke rising from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
Intelligence evaluations indicate that at least a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern part of the harbor show smoke emanating from the IRINS Makran, while additional ships appear to be harmed, with a single one clearly on fire.
Over at the Konarak base, photos display multiple harmed ships, with expert review identifying impacts on a half-dozen warships. Photos from the start of the week also indicate that multiple buildings at the installation have been leveled.
"For many years the Iran's leadership has threatened international shipping," an American commander declared. "Today, there is no Iranian vessel at sea in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."
A number of vessels reportedly destroyed may have been obscured in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or hit in open waters, and have not been conclusively proven. Other accounts indicated that an Iranian vessel was sinking near Sri Lanka's waters, resulting in a rescue operation.
Missile Bases and Atomic Facilities Attacked
Eliminating Iran's rocket sites and the prevention of atomic bomb programs were listed as additional goals of the offensive. Aerial imagery also revealed strikes on the southerly Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and bunkers were targeted.
At the Choqa Balk-e drone unmanned aircraft site west of the city of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was observed to warehouses, bunkers and UAV launching apparatus.
Damage was also observed at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.
Significantly, the most recent series of attacks have reportedly targeted installations at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the core of the country's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body said that the affected buildings were used for access to the site's underground enrichment facility and that "no radiological consequence" was anticipated.
Wider Fallout and Analysis
Defense experts stated that the attacks appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iran's naval ability to sustain conventional attacks using its biggest vessels. But, it was noted that Iran still has the ability to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of drones, mini-submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.
The overall scale of the destruction caused to Iran's defense infrastructure remains unclear, with strikes reportedly persisting. Imagery also indicates extensive destruction to the command center of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.
A large number of civilian buildings also appear to have been damaged in the capital city and throughout Iran after the hostilities began. Toll estimates from inside Iran state that a high number of civilians may have been fatally injured in the attacks.
Amid continuing hostilities, monitoring of satellite imagery will carry on to track the changing battlefield picture.