Satellite Images Indicate Iran's Navy and Nuclear Sites Hit by Joint US and Israeli Strikes.
A wave of American and Israeli attacks has allegedly eliminated or harmed a minimum of eleven Iran's navy ships since Saturday, new satellite images show, with rocket sites and atomic facilities also sustaining hits.
Photographs of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the headquarters of the Iranian navy, depict black smoke pouring from several warships on recent days.
Maritime Forces Sustained Major Damage
Among the ships sunk was the Makran, the country's biggest warship which had been used as a drone carrier. Satellite images showed black smoke pouring from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
Analytical reports indicate that no fewer than five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "damaged or eliminated". Imagery of the south end of the port show smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while two other vessels are visibly impacted, with a single one visibly ablaze.
At Konarak, images show several stricken ships, with intelligence reports identifying strikes against a half-dozen warships. Photos taken on the start of the week also indicate that a number of facilities at the installation have been leveled.
"For a long time the Tehran government has harassed international shipping," the head of US Central Command stated. "At present, there is not one vessel from Iran at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Sea of Oman, and we will not stop."
A number of vessels allegedly sunk may have been obscured in satellite images by haze or plumes, or struck at sea, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Other accounts stated that a ship from Iran was foundering off the coast of Sri Lanka's territorial waters, prompting a search and rescue mission.
Rocket Sites and Nuclear Facilities Targeted
Neutralizing Tehran's launch facilities and the hindering of atomic bomb programs were stated as further aims of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also depicted strikes on the southerly Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were struck.
At the Choqa Balk-e drone base to the west of Kermanshah, widespread damage was identified to warehouses, bunkers and unmanned aircraft systems.
Impact was also observed at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern Iran, close to the border with neighboring nations.
Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of attacks have reportedly hit facilities at the Natanz complex – long said to be at the center of the country's enrichment efforts. The UN's atomic energy body stated that the affected buildings were used for entry to the site's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no radiological consequence" was expected.
Broader Fallout and Assessment
Military analysts suggested that the offensive appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's ability to conduct traditional warfare using its largest warships. But, it was emphasised that Tehran retains the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, mini-submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of oil ships.
The overall scale of the damage caused to Iranian military infrastructure remains unclear, with hostilities reportedly ongoing. Imagery also shows considerable destruction to the headquarters of the the IRGC in the city of Tehran.
Numerous of civilian buildings also are reported to have been struck in the capital and throughout the country since the fighting started. Casualty figures from local officials indicate that hundreds of civilians may have been killed in the strikes.
As the situation develops, review of satellite imagery will persist to track the evolving military landscape.