Orbital Pictures Reveal Iranian Navy and Nuclear Sites Hit by American and Israeli Military Action.
A series of US and Israeli strikes has reportedly destroyed or damaged at least eleven Iranian naval vessels since Saturday, new orbital imagery show, with launch facilities and atomic facilities also sustaining hits.
Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas facility, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, show black smoke pouring from multiple vessels on Monday and Tuesday.
Naval Forces Incurred Significant Losses
Among the targets eliminated was the Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery indicated black smoke emanating from the vessel which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
Analytical evaluations indicate that at least five ships at the port were "hit or sunk". Photos of the southern end of the port depict smoke rising from the Makran, while another pair of vessels appear to be impacted, with a single one clearly on fire.
At the Konarak base, photos show multiple harmed vessels, with expert review pointing to impacts on a half-dozen warships. Photos taken on Monday also demonstrate that multiple facilities at the base have been leveled.
"For decades the Iran's leadership has harassed global maritime traffic," the head of US Central Command declared. "Now, there is no Iranian ship at sea in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."
Some ships allegedly sunk may have been concealed in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or struck at sea, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Additional information suggested that an Iranian vessel was sinking near Sri Lankan waters, leading to a rescue operation.
Rocket Bases and Atomic Locations Attacked
Neutralizing Iran's rocket sites and the stopping atomic bomb programs were declared as other objectives of the offensive. Aerial imagery also revealed strikes on the southerly Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were targeted.
At the Choqa Balk-e unmanned aircraft site to the west of Kermanshah, extensive destruction was observed to sheds, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.
Damage was also noted at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern Iran, near the frontier with neighboring nations.
Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of strikes have apparently hit installations at Natanz – long said to be at the core of the country's nuclear programme. A global monitoring agency said that the damaged buildings were used for entry to the facility's underground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was expected.
Wider Consequences and Analysis
Observers stated that the strikes appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's ability to carry out standard operations using its most significant vessels. However, it was stressed that Iran still has the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, small submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of oil ships.
The full extent of the destruction caused to Iranian military facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with strikes reportedly persisting. Pictures also reveals extensive damage to the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.
A significant number of public facilities also seem to have been struck in the capital city and throughout Iran since the fighting began. Casualty figures from local officials indicate that hundreds of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the strikes.
As the situation develops, monitoring of aerial photographs will continue to track the unfolding military landscape.