Space-Based Imagery Depict Iranian Navy and Nuclear Locations Targeted by Joint US and Israeli Strikes.
Multiple joint attacks has according to analysis sunk or crippled at least eleven Iran's navy ships starting Saturday, freshly analyzed aerial photos reveal, with launch facilities and atomic facilities also coming under fire.
Photographs of the southerly Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and houses the main command of the Iranian navy, show black smoke pouring from several vessels on recent days.
Naval Assets Incurred Major Losses
Included in the ships sunk was the Makran, the country's biggest warship which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos indicated dark plumes rising from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
Analytical assessments state that at least a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "struck or destroyed". Pictures of the southern end of the harbor show smoke rising from the Makran, while another pair of vessels are visibly impacted, with one of them visibly ablaze.
Over at the Konarak base, photos reveal several harmed vessels, with analysis identifying damage to a half-dozen warships. Pictures from Monday also indicate that a number of structures at the base have been destroyed.
"For decades the Iranian regime has threatened commercial vessels," a senior US military official said. "At present, there is no vessel from Iran underway in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."
Some ships allegedly destroyed may have been concealed in satellite images by weather conditions or battle damage, or struck at sea, and have not been conclusively proven. Additional information stated that one Iranian ship was sinking near Sri Lankan waters, prompting a rescue operation.
Missile Installations and Atomic Facilities Attacked
The destruction of Iran's rocket sites and the hindering of atomic bomb programs were listed as further objectives of the military strikes. Satellite images also showed impacts against the southern Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and bunkers were hit.
Over at the Choqa Balk-e unmanned aircraft site west of Kermanshah, extensive destruction was seen to sheds, underground facilities and UAV launching apparatus.
Damage was also seen at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.
Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of attacks have reportedly hit facilities at Natanz – widely believed to be at the center of Iran's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body said that the damaged structures were used for entry to the facility's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no radiological consequence" was likely.
Wider Consequences and Analysis
Military analysts indicated that the strikes appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's capacity to sustain traditional warfare using its largest warships. However, it was emphasised that Iran maintains the ability to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.
The full scope of the destruction caused to Iran's defense facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with strikes reportedly continuing. Pictures also indicates considerable destruction to the command center of the the IRGC in the capital Tehran.
A significant number of non-military structures also appear to have been damaged in the capital and throughout Iran after the conflict escalated. Reports of deaths from inside Iran suggest that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the strikes.
Amid continuing hostilities, review of aerial photographs will continue to assess the evolving military landscape.