Space-Based Pictures Indicate Iran's Naval Forces and Nuclear Facilities Targeted by Joint US and Israeli Airstrikes.
A series of US and Israeli strikes has according to analysis eliminated or harmed at least 11 warships belonging to Iran starting Saturday, new aerial photos show, with launch facilities and atomic facilities also being targeted.
Photographs of the southerly Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and is home to the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, reveal plumes of smoke rising from several vessels on the start of the week.
Maritime Forces Incurred Major Damage
Included in the vessels destroyed was the Makran, the country's biggest warship which had functioned as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos showed black smoke pouring from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas base.
Analytical assessments indicate that no fewer than a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "struck or destroyed". Photos of the southern part of the port depict plumes ascending from the Makran, while two other vessels appear to be damaged, with one seen burning.
At Konarak, photos reveal multiple stricken vessels, with analysis identifying strikes against a half-dozen warships. Pictures taken on the start of the week also show that several structures at the base have been destroyed.
"For many years the Tehran government has harassed international shipping," a senior US military official declared. "At present, there is not one Iranian vessel underway in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."
A number of ships reportedly destroyed may have been concealed in satellite images by weather conditions or battle damage, or hit in open waters, and have not been conclusively proven. Other accounts stated that one Iranian ship was foundering off the coast of Sri Lankan territorial waters, prompting a search and rescue mission.
Missile Sites and Nuclear Locations Attacked
Neutralizing Tehran's launch facilities and the stopping enrichment activities were listed as additional objectives of the offensive. Satellite images also revealed damage at the southerly Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and bunkers were targeted.
At the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base west of the city of Kermanshah, significant destruction was identified to storage buildings, underground facilities and unmanned aircraft systems.
Destruction was also observed at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.
Of particular note, the latest wave of attacks have reportedly focused on sites at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the core of Iran's atomic program. A global monitoring agency said that the damaged structures were used for access to the site's underground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was expected.
Wider Impact and Analysis
Defense experts suggested that the offensive appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iranian navy's capacity to carry out traditional warfare using its biggest vessels. But, it was stressed that Iran still has the option 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 total extent of the destruction caused to Iran's defense infrastructure remains unclear, with attacks reportedly persisting. Pictures also reveals extensive destruction to the command center of the the IRGC in the city of Tehran.
Numerous of public facilities also appear to have been damaged in the capital city and throughout Iran after the fighting started. Reports of deaths from inside Iran state that a high number of non-combatants may have been killed in the strikes.
As the situation develops, review of aerial photographs will carry on to track the changing scope of damage.
