Aerial Imagery Show Iran's Naval Forces and Atomic Facilities Targeted by US-Israeli Airstrikes.

A series of US and Israeli strikes has reportedly sunk or crippled no fewer than 11 Iranian naval vessels since Saturday, freshly analyzed orbital imagery show, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also coming under fire.

Photographs of the southerly Konarak naval military port and the Bandar Abbas facility, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz and houses the headquarters of the Iranian navy, show smoke billowing from several warships on recent days.

Naval Fleet Sustained Substantial Damage

Among the vessels destroyed was the Makran, the country's largest naval vessel which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Satellite images displayed dark plumes rising from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence reports suggest that no fewer than five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "struck or destroyed". Imagery of the southern end of the port show plumes ascending from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of vessels are visibly harmed, with one of them seen burning.

At the Konarak base, photos display multiple harmed vessels, with analysis pointing to impacts on six vessels. Images taken on the start of the week also show that multiple buildings at the installation have been leveled.

"For a long time the Iranian regime has disrupted commercial vessels," the head of US Central Command stated. "At present, there is not a single Iranian ship at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will persist."

A number of ships allegedly sunk may have been obscured in satellite images by haze or plumes, or targeted offshore, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts suggested that an Iranian vessel was foundering near Sri Lankan territorial waters, resulting in a rescue operation.

Missile Sites and Atomic Locations Attacked

Eliminating Tehran's launch facilities and the hindering of enrichment activities were stated as other objectives of the offensive. Aerial imagery also revealed impacts against the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e unmanned aircraft site west of Kermanshah, extensive destruction was seen to storage buildings, bunkers and unmanned aircraft systems.

Impact was also observed at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase in eastern parts of the country, near the border with neighboring nations.

Significantly, the new round of attacks have apparently focused on sites at the Natanz complex – long said to be at the center of the country's nuclear programme. The UN's atomic energy body said that the affected buildings were used for entry to the site's underground enrichment facility and that "no release of radioactive material" was anticipated.

Wider Consequences and Analysis

Observers suggested that the strikes appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval capability to conduct traditional warfare using its most significant vessels. But, it was noted that Iran retains the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "shadow fleet" of oil ships.

The total scale of the damage caused to Iran's defense facilities is still uncertain, with strikes reportedly continuing. Imagery also indicates considerable damage to the main offices of the the IRGC in the capital Tehran.

A significant number of non-military structures also are reported to have been damaged in the capital city and throughout the country since the conflict began. Reports of deaths from ground sources indicate that hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the strikes.

With the conflict ongoing, analysis of aerial photographs will persist to document the unfolding battlefield picture.