Satellite Photographs Show Iran's Navy and Nuclear Sites Targeted by American and Israeli Attacks.
Multiple US and Israeli strikes has allegedly sunk or crippled no fewer than eleven Iranian naval vessels since the weekend, freshly analyzed orbital imagery demonstrate, with rocket sites and nuclear sites also sustaining hits.
Pictures of the southern Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas installation, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz and houses the headquarters of the Iranian navy, show plumes of smoke rising from multiple warships on the start of the week.
Maritime Forces Sustained Major Damage
Among the ships sunk was the Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had functioned as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery displayed black smoke pouring from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas base.
Analytical reports state that no fewer than five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern end of the port depict smoke emanating from the IRINS Makran, while additional vessels seem to be harmed, with one clearly on fire.
At Konarak, photos display numerous harmed vessels, with analysis pointing to strikes against a half-dozen warships. Pictures taken on Monday also demonstrate that a number of facilities at the installation have been demolished.
"For many years the Tehran government has harassed international shipping," an American commander said. "Today, there is not a single Iranian ship at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."
A number of vessels allegedly sunk may have been obscured in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or struck at sea, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts indicated that an Iranian vessel was going down near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, prompting a search and rescue mission.
Missile Sites and Nuclear Facilities Hit
Eliminating Iranian missile bases and the prevention of nuclear weapons development were listed as further aims of the offensive. Satellite images also revealed damage at the southern Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where weapons bunkers and bunkers were targeted.
Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone unmanned aircraft site west of Kermanshah, significant destruction was seen to warehouses, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.
Damage was also observed at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern Iran, close to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Significantly, the most recent series of strikes have apparently focused on installations at Natanz – long said to be at the center of the country's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body commented that the damaged buildings were used for entry to the facility's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no release of radioactive material" was anticipated.
Wider Fallout and Assessment
Observers indicated that the strikes appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval ability to conduct conventional attacks using its most significant warships. But, it was stressed that Tehran maintains the ability to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.
The full scope of the damage caused to Iran's defense facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with attacks said to be continuing. Pictures also indicates considerable damage to the main offices of the the IRGC in the city of Tehran.
A large number of civilian buildings also seem to have been struck in the capital and across Iran after the fighting started. Reports of deaths from ground sources state that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the bombardment.
As the situation develops, monitoring of space-based data will persist to track the changing scope of damage.