Orbital Pictures Indicate Iran's Naval Forces and Nuclear Facilities Hit by US-Israeli Airstrikes.
A wave of American and Israeli airstrikes has allegedly sunk or crippled a minimum of 11 Iranian naval vessels starting Saturday, new aerial photos reveal, with missile bases and nuclear sites also coming under fire.
Pictures of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas installation, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the main command of the Iranian navy, depict plumes of smoke rising from a number of ships on recent days.
Maritime Forces Incurred Substantial Damage
Included in the targets eliminated was the Makran, the country's biggest warship which had functioned as a drone carrier. Satellite images indicated dark plumes rising from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas base.
Intelligence evaluations state that at least a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "struck or destroyed". Pictures of the southern end of the harbor show smoke rising from the Makran, while another pair of vessels are visibly impacted, with one of them clearly on fire.
At the Konarak base, photos display multiple stricken ships, with expert review pointing to damage to six vessels. Photos from Monday also show that a number of structures at the base have been demolished.
"For a long time the Iran's leadership has disrupted global maritime traffic," a senior US military official declared. "At present, there is no Iranian ship operational in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."
Some ships allegedly destroyed may have been concealed in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or targeted offshore, and have not been independently verified. Additional information indicated that one Iranian ship was going down near Sri Lanka's waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.
Missile Bases and Atomic Facilities Hit
Neutralizing Tehran's launch facilities and the prevention of nuclear weapons development were declared as additional aims of the offensive. Satellite images also revealed strikes on the southern Khorgu and northwestern Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where weapons bunkers and bunkers were hit.
At the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base to the west of the city of Kermanshah, widespread damage was identified to sheds, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.
Destruction was also noted at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern Iran, near the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Perhaps most notably, the latest wave of attacks have apparently targeted sites at the Natanz complex – considered at the center of Iran's atomic program. An international watchdog commented that the damaged structures were used for access to the site's underground nuclear plant and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.
Wider Impact and Assessment
Observers suggested that the offensive appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iran's naval capacity to carry out conventional attacks using its most significant warships. But, it was stressed that Iran still has the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "ghost fleet" of oil ships.
The overall scope of the destruction caused to Iran's defense infrastructure has yet to be fully assessed, with attacks said to be continuing. Pictures also shows widespread destruction to the main offices of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the city of Tehran.
Numerous of public facilities also are reported to have been damaged in the capital and across the country since the fighting began. Casualty figures from local officials suggest that hundreds of civilians may have been lost their lives in the bombardment.
Amid continuing hostilities, review of aerial photographs will carry on to document the changing battlefield picture.