Space-Based Pictures Show Iranian Naval Forces and Atomic Locations Targeted by US-Israeli Attacks.
A series of joint attacks has allegedly sunk or crippled at least eleven warships belonging to Iran starting the weekend, new satellite images show, with missile bases and enrichment plants also sustaining hits.
Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the main command of the Iranian navy, show smoke billowing from several vessels on the start of the week.
Maritime Assets Incurred Major Damage
Among the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Satellite images showed thick smoke pouring from the vessel which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas base.
Intelligence reports indicate that no fewer than five ships at the port were "damaged or eliminated". Imagery of the southern end of the port reveal smoke rising from the Makran, while another pair of vessels are visibly impacted, with a single one visibly ablaze.
At Konarak, images show several damaged vessels, with expert review pointing to damage to a half-dozen warships. Pictures taken on Monday also indicate that several buildings at the installation have been leveled.
"For decades the Iran's leadership has harassed commercial vessels," the head of US Central Command said. "Today, there is no vessel from Iran operational in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."
A number of ships allegedly destroyed may have been obscured in satellite images by weather conditions or battle damage, or hit in open waters, and have not been conclusively proven. Additional information indicated that one Iranian ship was foundering off the coast of Sri Lanka's waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.
Missile Sites and Atomic Facilities Attacked
Neutralizing Iran's rocket sites and the prevention of enrichment activities were declared as additional goals of the air campaign. Aerial imagery also depicted strikes on the southerly Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where rocket warehouses and bunkers were struck.
Over at the Choqa Balk-e UAV facility west of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was observed to warehouses, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.
Impact was also observed at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern parts of the country, close to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Significantly, the latest wave of attacks have reportedly targeted installations at Natanz – long said to be at the heart of the country's atomic program. An international watchdog said that the damaged buildings were used for access to the facility's underground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was likely.
Wider Fallout and Assessment
Observers stated that the attacks appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's capacity to carry out conventional attacks using its biggest warships. But, it was noted that Tehran still has the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of tankers.
The total scale of the destruction caused to Iranian military infrastructure is still uncertain, with hostilities said to be continuing. Pictures also indicates widespread destruction to the main offices of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the city of Tehran.
A large number of civilian buildings also seem to have been struck in the capital city and throughout Iran since the conflict started. Casualty figures from local officials state that hundreds of civilians may have been lost their lives in the strikes.
Amid continuing hostilities, analysis of aerial photographs will carry on to document the changing military landscape.