Satellite Photographs Reveal Iranian Navy and Nuclear Facilities Damaged by US-Israeli Attacks.
Multiple US and Israeli strikes has allegedly destroyed or damaged a minimum of eleven warships belonging to Iran since the weekend, new aerial photos show, with rocket sites and nuclear sites also being targeted.
Pictures of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the main command of the Iranian navy, show smoke billowing from a number of warships on Monday and Tuesday.
Naval Assets Sustained Major Damage
Included in the ships sunk was the Makran, the country's biggest warship which had been used as a drone carrier. Orbital photos displayed black smoke rising from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
Intelligence reports indicate that at least five vessels at the port were "struck or destroyed". Pictures of the south end of the harbor reveal plumes ascending from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of ships are visibly harmed, with a single one seen burning.
At the Konarak base, photos show several stricken ships, with intelligence reports pointing to damage to a half-dozen warships. Images taken on Monday also indicate that multiple structures at the installation have been leveled.
"For many years the Iran's leadership has harassed global maritime traffic," the head of US Central Command said. "Now, there is not a single Iranian ship at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."
A number of vessels allegedly sunk may have been hidden in aerial photos by haze or plumes, or hit in open waters, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts indicated that an Iranian vessel was foundering off the coast of Sri Lankan waters, leading to a rescue operation.
Rocket Installations and Nuclear Facilities Targeted
The destruction of Iranian missile bases and the stopping atomic bomb programs were declared as other goals of the military strikes. Satellite images also revealed impacts against the southerly Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and bunkers were targeted.
Over at the Choqa Balk-e UAV facility to the west of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was observed to warehouses, underground facilities and UAV launching apparatus.
Destruction was also noted at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase in eastern Iran, near the border with neighboring nations.
Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of attacks have apparently hit installations at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the center of Iran's enrichment efforts. The UN's atomic energy body said that the affected buildings were used for entry to the site's underground nuclear plant and that "no release of radioactive material" was expected.
Wider Impact and Assessment
Defense experts indicated that the offensive appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval capability to conduct standard operations using its largest warships. Nevertheless, it was emphasised that Tehran maintains the capacity to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of tankers.
The overall scope of the damage caused to Iranian military facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with attacks reportedly continuing. Imagery also indicates considerable damage to the command center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.
A large number of civilian buildings also seem to have been struck in the capital city and throughout the country after the conflict escalated. Toll estimates from ground sources indicate that many hundreds of civilians may have been killed in the attacks.
With the conflict ongoing, analysis of space-based data will continue to document the changing military landscape.