Aerial Images Indicate Iran's Navy and Nuclear Locations Struck by American and Israeli Airstrikes.
A wave of American and Israeli strikes has reportedly sunk or crippled no fewer than 11 Iran's navy ships since the weekend, recently obtained orbital imagery reveal, with rocket sites and nuclear sites also coming under fire.
Photographs of the southerly Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the main command of the Iranian navy, depict plumes of smoke rising from multiple warships on Monday and Tuesday.
Naval Forces Sustained Major Losses
Among the vessels destroyed was the Makran, the country's largest naval vessel which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos showed dark plumes pouring from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
Analytical evaluations indicate that at least five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern end of the port reveal plumes ascending from the IRINS Makran, while two other ships are visibly impacted, with one visibly ablaze.
At the Konarak base, photos show several stricken ships, with expert review identifying impacts on six vessels. Images from the start of the week also show that several buildings at the installation have been destroyed.
"For decades the Iran's leadership has disrupted commercial vessels," the head of US Central Command declared. "At present, there is no vessel from Iran at sea in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."
Some ships reportedly destroyed may have been concealed in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or targeted offshore, and have not been conclusively proven. Other accounts indicated that a ship from Iran was going down near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, prompting a rescue operation.
Missile Bases and Atomic Locations Targeted
The destruction of Tehran's launch facilities and the hindering of atomic bomb programs were declared as other goals of the air campaign. Satellite images also showed damage at the southerly Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and bunkers were struck.
At the Choqa Balk-e drone base west of the city of Kermanshah, extensive damage was seen to sheds, bunkers and unmanned aircraft systems.
Impact was also noted at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, close to the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Perhaps most notably, the most recent series of attacks have apparently targeted installations at Natanz – long said to be at the core of Iran's nuclear programme. An international watchdog said that the damaged buildings were used for access to the site's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.
Broader Fallout and Assessment
Military analysts indicated that the attacks appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iran's naval capacity to carry out conventional attacks using its largest vessels. However, it was stressed that Iran maintains the ability to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.
The full extent of the damage caused to Iranian military facilities is still uncertain, with hostilities said to be persisting. Pictures also shows extensive destruction to the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.
Numerous of public facilities also seem to have been struck in the capital city and across Iran since the conflict escalated. Casualty figures from inside Iran indicate that a high number of civilians may have been fatally injured in the bombardment.
As the situation develops, review of aerial photographs will continue to assess the changing battlefield picture.