🔗 Share this article

A series of joint attacks has allegedly destroyed or damaged at least 11 warships belonging to Iran starting the weekend, recently obtained satellite images show, with missile bases and atomic facilities also coming under fire.

Images of the southerly Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and houses the main command of the Iranian navy, show plumes of smoke rising from multiple warships on recent days.

Naval Forces Incurred Major Losses

Included in the ships sunk was the Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had functioned as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos showed thick smoke emanating from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical assessments indicate that at least five vessels at the port were "struck or destroyed". Photos of the southern part of the harbor reveal plumes ascending from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of vessels seem to be harmed, with one of them clearly on fire.

Over at the Konarak base, images display numerous damaged ships, with intelligence reports identifying strikes against a half-dozen warships. Photos taken on the start of the week also indicate that a number of structures at the installation have been demolished.

"For decades the Iran's leadership has harassed international shipping," an American commander declared. "At present, there is no Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."

A number of vessels reportedly destroyed may have been hidden in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or targeted offshore, and have not been independently verified. Additional information stated that a ship from Iran was foundering near Sri Lankan territorial waters, resulting in a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Bases and Atomic Facilities Targeted

Eliminating Iran's rocket sites and the stopping nuclear weapons development were listed as further objectives of the offensive. Aerial imagery also showed damage at the southern Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e unmanned aircraft site west of the city of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was observed to storage buildings, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Damage was also noted at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase in eastern Iran, near the border with neighboring nations.

Perhaps most notably, the new round of attacks have reportedly focused on facilities at the Natanz complex – long said to be at the heart of Iran's atomic program. An international watchdog commented that the damaged structures were used for access to the facility's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.

Broader Impact and Analysis

Observers suggested that the attacks appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's capacity to carry out standard operations using its most significant warships. Nevertheless, it was stressed that Tehran retains the ability to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.

The overall scope of the destruction caused to Iranian military facilities remains unclear, with attacks reportedly persisting. Imagery also shows widespread destruction to the command center of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the city of Tehran.

A large number of public facilities also appear to have been hit in the capital city and across Iran after the fighting started. Reports of deaths from local officials state that a high number of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the strikes.

As the situation develops, review of space-based data will carry on to document the evolving military landscape.