Orbital Pictures Show Iranian Navy and Atomic Facilities Struck by US-Israeli Airstrikes.
A wave of joint strikes has according to analysis eliminated or harmed at least 11 Iranian naval vessels since the weekend, new orbital imagery show, with rocket sites and nuclear sites also being targeted.
Photographs of the southern Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which overlooks the strategic Hormuz Strait and houses the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, depict plumes of smoke rising from multiple warships on the start of the week.
Maritime Fleet Incurred Significant Losses
Among the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had been used as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery showed dark plumes emanating from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
Analytical assessments suggest that no fewer than five vessels at the port were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern part of the port depict smoke emanating from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of ships are visibly damaged, with a single one visibly ablaze.
At Konarak, photos display several harmed vessels, with intelligence reports identifying damage to a half-dozen warships. Images taken on Monday also demonstrate that several facilities at the installation have been demolished.
"For decades the Iran's leadership has harassed global maritime traffic," a senior US military official declared. "Now, there is not one Iranian vessel underway in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."
A number of ships allegedly sunk may have been obscured in satellite images by weather conditions or battle damage, or hit in open waters, and have not been independently verified. Separate reports stated that an Iranian vessel was going down near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, resulting in a search and rescue mission.
Missile Sites and Atomic Locations Hit
Eliminating Tehran's launch facilities and the prevention of nuclear weapons development were listed as further aims of the air campaign. Satellite images also depicted strikes on the southern Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.
At the Choqa Balk-e UAV facility to the west of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was seen to warehouses, bunkers and UAV launching apparatus.
Destruction was also noted at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Significantly, the most recent series of strikes have reportedly targeted installations at Natanz – considered at the center of Iran's nuclear programme. An international watchdog stated that the affected structures were used for access to the site's underground nuclear plant and that "no release of radioactive material" was anticipated.
Wider Fallout and Analysis
Military analysts suggested that the offensive appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iran's naval capacity to conduct conventional attacks using its largest warships. Nevertheless, it was emphasised that Tehran retains the ability to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.
The overall scale of the destruction caused to Iranian military infrastructure has yet to be fully assessed, with attacks said to be continuing. Photos also reveals widespread damage to the command center of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.
Numerous of non-military structures also are reported to have been damaged in the capital and across Iran after the conflict began. Casualty figures from ground sources suggest that hundreds of civilians may have been fatally injured in the strikes.
Amid continuing hostilities, monitoring of space-based data will continue to document the evolving scope of damage.