Aerial Images Show Iran's Naval Forces and Atomic Sites Targeted by Joint US and Israeli Military Action.
A wave of US and Israeli airstrikes has reportedly sunk or crippled at least eleven warships belonging to Iran since Saturday, recently obtained satellite images demonstrate, with rocket sites and nuclear sites also sustaining hits.
Images of the southerly Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the main command of the Iran's naval force, reveal smoke billowing from a number of ships on Monday and Tuesday.
Maritime Fleet Incurred Significant Losses
Included in the targets eliminated was the IRINS Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had been used as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery showed black smoke pouring from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
Analytical assessments state that at least a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "damaged or eliminated". Photos of the southern part of the port show smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while additional ships seem to be harmed, with one of them visibly ablaze.
Over at Konarak, photos display multiple stricken vessels, with expert review pointing to impacts on six vessels. Photos taken on Monday also demonstrate that several structures at the base have been demolished.
"For a long time the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping," an American commander stated. "Now, there is no vessel from Iran at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."
A number of vessels reportedly sunk may have been hidden in satellite images by haze or plumes, or targeted offshore, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts indicated that one Iranian ship was going down off the coast of Sri Lanka's territorial waters, prompting a rescue operation.
Rocket Installations and Atomic Facilities Targeted
The destruction of Iran's rocket sites and the stopping enrichment activities were declared as additional objectives of the offensive. Aerial imagery also depicted impacts against the southerly Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.
Over at the Choqa Balk-e unmanned aircraft site to the west of the city of Kermanshah, extensive damage was seen to sheds, underground facilities and unmanned aircraft systems.
Destruction was also seen at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.
Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of attacks have apparently hit installations at Natanz – considered at the core of Iran's atomic program. A global monitoring agency said that the affected structures were used for entry to the facility's underground enrichment facility and that "no radiological consequence" was likely.
Broader Impact and Assessment
Military analysts indicated that the strikes appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iran's naval capability to sustain standard operations using its biggest vessels. Nevertheless, it was noted that Iran retains the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of drones, mini-submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.
The full extent of the damage caused to Iranian military facilities is still uncertain, with attacks reportedly ongoing. Photos also shows extensive destruction to the command center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.
Numerous of civilian buildings also appear to have been hit in the capital and across the country after the fighting escalated. Toll estimates from inside Iran suggest that a high number of civilians may have been killed in the bombardment.
With the conflict ongoing, monitoring of aerial photographs will persist to document the changing scope of damage.