Aerial Images Indicate Iranian Naval Forces and Nuclear Facilities Hit by US-Israeli Strikes.
A wave of US and Israeli airstrikes has according to analysis eliminated or harmed no fewer than 11 Iranian naval vessels starting Saturday, new satellite images reveal, with launch facilities and atomic facilities also coming under fire.
Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, show plumes of smoke rising from multiple vessels on Monday and Tuesday.
Naval Forces Incurred Substantial Damage
Included in the ships sunk was the Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos showed black smoke rising from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.
Analytical reports state that no fewer than a quintet of warships at the port were "hit or sunk". Pictures of the southern part of the harbor show plumes ascending from the Makran, while two other vessels seem to be harmed, with one of them clearly on fire.
At Konarak, images display several harmed vessels, with intelligence reports identifying impacts on six vessels. Photos from Monday also demonstrate that a number of structures at the base have been destroyed.
"For many years the Iran's leadership has harassed global maritime traffic," the head of US Central Command declared. "Today, there is not a single vessel from Iran at sea in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."
A number of ships reportedly destroyed may have been obscured in aerial photos by haze or plumes, or struck at sea, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts suggested that an Iranian vessel was foundering near Sri Lankan waters, resulting in a search and rescue mission.
Rocket Bases and Atomic Facilities Hit
The destruction of Iranian missile bases and the stopping nuclear weapons development were declared as further objectives of the air campaign. Satellite images also showed damage at the southerly Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were hit.
Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone base west of the city of Kermanshah, widespread damage was identified to sheds, underground facilities and UAV launching apparatus.
Destruction was also noted at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Significantly, the new round of strikes have apparently hit installations at the Natanz complex – considered at the heart of Iran's nuclear programme. The UN's atomic energy body said that the damaged buildings were used for access to the site's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was anticipated.
Broader Consequences and Assessment
Observers indicated that the attacks appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iranian navy's ability to sustain conventional attacks using its largest vessels. Nevertheless, it was noted that Tehran still has the capacity to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of oil ships.
The total scale of the damage caused to Iranian military facilities remains unclear, with attacks reportedly persisting. Photos also shows widespread destruction to the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the capital Tehran.
A significant number of civilian buildings also are reported to have been damaged in the capital and throughout Iran after the hostilities began. Reports of deaths from ground sources indicate that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been fatally injured in the strikes.
Amid continuing hostilities, analysis of space-based data will persist to track the evolving battlefield picture.