Multiple joint attacks has reportedly eliminated or harmed a minimum of eleven Iranian naval vessels since the weekend, new satellite images demonstrate, with missile bases and enrichment plants also being targeted.
Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas facility, which overlooks the strategic Hormuz Strait and houses the main command of the Iran's naval force, reveal black smoke pouring from multiple warships on recent days.
Among the vessels destroyed was the Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Satellite images displayed black smoke rising from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas base.
Intelligence assessments suggest that no fewer than five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "struck or destroyed". Pictures of the southern end of the port reveal smoke rising from the Makran, while two other ships are visibly damaged, with a single one clearly on fire.
Over at Konarak, photos show several stricken vessels, with analysis identifying damage to six vessels. Images from Monday also indicate that several buildings at the base have been demolished.
"For a long time the Tehran government has harassed commercial vessels," a senior US military official declared. "Now, there is not a single Iranian ship operational in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."
Some vessels reportedly destroyed may have been hidden in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or struck at sea, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts stated that a ship from Iran was going down off the coast of Sri Lankan waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.
Neutralizing Iranian missile bases and the stopping nuclear weapons development were stated as additional objectives of the military strikes. Satellite images also showed impacts against the southern Khorgu and northwestern Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where weapons bunkers and bunkers were targeted.
At the Choqa Balk-e unmanned aircraft site west of Kermanshah, extensive damage was seen to storage buildings, underground facilities and unmanned aircraft systems.
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 most recent series of strikes have reportedly targeted installations at Natanz – widely believed to be at the heart of the country's nuclear programme. An international watchdog stated that the damaged structures were used for access to the facility's underground nuclear plant and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.
Defense experts suggested that the attacks appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iranian navy's capacity to carry out traditional warfare using its most significant warships. However, it was emphasised that Iran retains the option 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 extent of the damage caused to Iranian military facilities is still uncertain, with hostilities said to be persisting. Pictures also reveals considerable damage to the command center of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the capital Tehran.
A significant number of non-military structures also appear to have been damaged in the capital and throughout the country after the hostilities began. Toll estimates from inside Iran state that a high number of civilians may have been fatally injured in the attacks.
As the situation develops, review of satellite imagery will carry on to track the unfolding military landscape.
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