A wave of American and Israeli attacks has allegedly destroyed or damaged no fewer than eleven Iranian naval vessels since the weekend, freshly analyzed orbital imagery demonstrate, with missile bases and atomic facilities also coming under fire.
Pictures of the southern Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and houses the headquarters of the Iranian navy, show plumes of smoke rising from a number of vessels on Monday and Tuesday.
Among the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, the country's most sizable ship which had functioned as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery showed black smoke rising from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
Intelligence evaluations state that at least a quintet of warships at the port were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern end of the harbor reveal smoke emanating from the Makran, while additional vessels are visibly impacted, with one of them seen burning.
Over at the Konarak base, images show several damaged ships, with expert review pointing to impacts on six ships. Pictures taken on the start of the week also demonstrate that a number of facilities at the installation have been demolished.
"For decades the Iranian regime has threatened global maritime traffic," the head of US Central Command stated. "Today, there is not one Iranian vessel underway in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."
A number of ships reportedly sunk may have been concealed in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or struck at sea, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Additional information indicated that one Iranian ship was going down near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.
Eliminating Iranian missile bases and the hindering of atomic bomb programs were declared as other aims of the military strikes. Satellite images also revealed damage at the southern Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were struck.
At the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base to the west of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was identified to warehouses, bunkers and drone launch equipment.
Damage was also observed at a surveillance station at the Zahedan military airport in eastern parts of the country, near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Of particular note, the most recent series of attacks have apparently targeted facilities at Natanz – widely believed to be at the heart of Iran's nuclear programme. The UN's atomic energy body stated that the affected structures were used for access to the facility's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no release of radioactive material" was expected.
Defense experts suggested that the strikes appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iran's naval ability to conduct conventional attacks using its biggest warships. Nevertheless, it was noted that Iran 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 tankers.
The full scale of the damage caused to Iranian military infrastructure is still uncertain, with attacks said to be persisting. Imagery also shows considerable 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 hit in the capital city and across Iran since the hostilities escalated. Casualty figures from local officials state that hundreds of civilians may have been lost their lives in the strikes.
With the conflict ongoing, analysis of aerial photographs will carry on to track the evolving battlefield picture.
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