🔗 Share this article

Multiple American and Israeli airstrikes has reportedly destroyed or damaged no fewer than 11 Iran's navy ships starting Saturday, new orbital imagery show, with missile bases and enrichment plants also coming under fire.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz and houses the main command of the Iranian navy, depict plumes of smoke rising from multiple warships on the start of the week.

Maritime Fleet Incurred Substantial Losses

Among the ships sunk was the Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had been used as a drone carrier. Satellite images displayed black smoke rising from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence assessments state that no fewer than a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Photos of the south end of the port show smoke emanating from the Makran, while additional vessels seem to be impacted, with a single one seen burning.

Over at the Konarak base, photos show numerous harmed vessels, with intelligence reports identifying strikes against a half-dozen warships. Pictures from Monday also indicate that a number of structures at the base have been destroyed.

"For decades the Tehran government has threatened international shipping," an American commander stated. "At present, there is not one vessel from Iran at sea in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."

Some ships reportedly destroyed may have been concealed in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or struck at sea, and have not been conclusively proven. Separate reports indicated that one Iranian ship was foundering near Sri Lankan waters, prompting a rescue operation.

Missile Bases and Nuclear Facilities Hit

Eliminating Iranian missile bases and the hindering of atomic bomb programs were listed as other aims of the offensive. Satellite images also showed damage at the southerly Khorgu and northwestern Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and bunkers were targeted.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone unmanned aircraft site west of the city of Kermanshah, significant destruction was seen to storage buildings, bunkers and UAV launching apparatus.

Damage was also noted at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern parts of the country, close to the border with neighboring nations.

Perhaps most notably, the most recent series of strikes have apparently focused on facilities at Natanz – widely believed to be at the center of Iran's enrichment efforts. An international watchdog stated that the affected buildings were used for entry to the site's underground enrichment facility and that "no radiological consequence" was anticipated.

Wider Fallout and Analysis

Military analysts stated that the strikes appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iran's naval capacity to carry out conventional attacks using its biggest warships. But, it was emphasised that Iran maintains the capacity to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.

The full scope of the destruction caused to Iranian military infrastructure is still uncertain, with attacks reportedly persisting. Imagery also shows extensive destruction to the command center of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.

A large number of public facilities also are reported to have been struck in the capital city and across the country after the fighting escalated. Reports of deaths from ground sources state that many hundreds of civilians may have been lost their lives in the strikes.

With the conflict ongoing, review of satellite imagery will carry on to track the unfolding military landscape.