🔗 Share this article

A wave of joint strikes has reportedly destroyed or damaged a minimum of eleven Iranian naval vessels starting the weekend, freshly analyzed satellite images reveal, with rocket sites and nuclear sites also sustaining hits.

Photographs of the southern Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas installation, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and contains the headquarters of the Iranian navy, depict plumes of smoke rising from multiple warships on the start of the week.

Maritime Forces Sustained Major Damage

Included in the ships sunk was the Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had functioned as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Satellite images indicated thick smoke rising from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical reports indicate that at least five ships at Bandar Abbas were "damaged or eliminated". Photos of the south end of the harbor depict smoke emanating from the Makran, while another pair of ships seem to be damaged, with a single one visibly ablaze.

Over at the Konarak base, photos reveal multiple stricken ships, with expert review pointing to damage to a half-dozen warships. Images taken on Monday also show that a number of structures at the base have been demolished.

"For decades the Iran's leadership has threatened international shipping," a senior US military official declared. "At present, there is not one Iranian ship operational in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."

A number of vessels reportedly destroyed may have been concealed in aerial photos by haze or plumes, or hit in open waters, and have not been independently verified. Separate reports indicated that an Iranian vessel was sinking near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Missile Installations and Atomic Locations Targeted

Eliminating Iran's rocket sites and the stopping atomic bomb programs were declared as additional objectives of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also revealed damage at the southerly Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were hit.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base west of Kermanshah, extensive damage was seen to storage buildings, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Destruction was also noted at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Of particular note, the most recent series of strikes have reportedly hit sites at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the core of the country's atomic program. A global monitoring agency stated that the affected buildings were used for access to the site's underground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was anticipated.

Wider Consequences and Analysis

Defense experts stated that the attacks appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iran's naval capacity to sustain conventional attacks using its most significant vessels. Nevertheless, it was stressed that Iran maintains the capacity to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of tankers.

The full scope of the destruction caused to Iran's defense facilities remains unclear, with attacks reportedly persisting. Imagery also indicates considerable damage to the headquarters of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.

A significant number of civilian buildings also are reported to have been damaged in the capital and across Iran after the conflict started. Casualty figures from inside Iran indicate that a high number of civilians may have been killed in the attacks.

With the conflict ongoing, review of satellite imagery will continue to assess the changing military landscape.