Aerial Imagery Reveal Iran's Naval Forces and Nuclear Sites Hit by US-Israeli Attacks.
Multiple joint strikes has according to analysis destroyed or damaged a minimum of eleven warships belonging to Iran starting Saturday, freshly analyzed orbital imagery show, with launch facilities and enrichment plants also sustaining hits.
Photographs of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas installation, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz and houses the main command of the Iran's naval force, reveal plumes of smoke rising from a number of ships on recent days.
Maritime Forces Incurred Significant Damage
Included in the targets eliminated was the Makran, Iran's largest naval vessel which had functioned as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery indicated black smoke emanating from the vessel which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas base.
Intelligence assessments indicate that no fewer than a quintet of warships at the port were "struck or destroyed". Pictures of the south end of the harbor reveal smoke rising from the Makran, while two other vessels seem to be damaged, with a single one visibly ablaze.
Over at Konarak, photos reveal numerous stricken vessels, with analysis identifying strikes against a half-dozen warships. Images from the start of the week also demonstrate that several structures at the installation have been destroyed.
"For many years the Tehran government has disrupted international shipping," the head of US Central Command said. "At present, there is not a single Iranian vessel at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will continue."
Some vessels reportedly sunk may have been hidden in satellite images by haze or plumes, or struck at sea, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Other accounts indicated that a ship from Iran was sinking near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, resulting in a rescue operation.
Missile Installations and Nuclear Locations Attacked
Eliminating Iran's rocket sites and the prevention of enrichment activities were stated as other objectives of the offensive. Satellite images also revealed impacts against the southerly Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and bunkers were targeted.
At the Choqa Balk-e drone base west of Kermanshah, extensive destruction was seen to warehouses, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.
Damage was also noted at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, near the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Significantly, the new round of strikes have reportedly focused on installations at Natanz – long said to be at the center of Iran's nuclear programme. The UN's atomic energy body said that the affected buildings were used for entry to the facility's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.
Broader Fallout and Analysis
Observers stated that the strikes appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iranian navy's capability to sustain traditional warfare using its biggest vessels. However, it was emphasised 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 "clandestine network" of tankers.
The full extent of the destruction caused to Iranian military facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with attacks said to be continuing. Photos also shows considerable damage to the headquarters of the the IRGC in the city of Tehran.
A large number of public facilities also appear to have been damaged in the capital and across Iran after the hostilities escalated. Toll estimates from inside Iran state that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the attacks.
With the conflict ongoing, analysis of space-based data will continue to document the evolving scope of damage.