🔗 Share this article Space-Based Imagery Indicate Iran's Naval Forces and Atomic Locations Hit by US-Israeli Attacks. A wave of US and Israeli attacks has reportedly sunk or crippled at least 11 Iran's navy ships starting the weekend, recently obtained aerial photos show, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also coming under fire. Images of the southern Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas facility, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the main command of the Iranian navy, depict plumes of smoke rising from several ships on Monday and Tuesday. Naval Forces Sustained Major Damage Included in the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery displayed black smoke rising from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas naval base. Analytical assessments suggest that no fewer than a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "struck or destroyed". Pictures of the southern end of the harbor show smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while additional ships seem to be harmed, with a single one clearly on fire. Over at Konarak, images reveal several stricken ships, with intelligence reports pointing to damage to six vessels. Images from Monday also demonstrate that a number of facilities at the installation have been leveled. "For a long time the Tehran government has disrupted international shipping," an American commander stated. "Today, there is no Iranian ship at sea in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop." Some ships allegedly sunk may have been obscured in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or struck at sea, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts stated that an Iranian vessel was going down near Sri Lanka's waters, leading to a search and rescue mission. Missile Sites and Atomic Locations Attacked Eliminating Tehran's launch facilities and the stopping nuclear weapons development were stated as further goals of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also showed damage at the southern Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where weapons bunkers and fortifications were struck. At the Choqa Balk-e UAV facility to the west of the city of Kermanshah, widespread destruction was seen to sheds, underground facilities and drone launch equipment. Damage was also noted at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase in eastern parts of the country, near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Perhaps most notably, the new round of attacks have apparently focused on facilities at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the center of the country's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body stated that the affected structures were used for access to the site's underground enrichment facility and that "no release of radioactive material" was anticipated. Wider Consequences and Analysis Military analysts suggested that the strikes appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval capability to conduct standard operations using its most significant warships. However, it was emphasised that Iran maintains the ability to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "shadow fleet" of tankers. The total scope of the destruction caused to Iran's defense facilities remains unclear, with strikes said to be ongoing. Imagery also reveals widespread destruction to the main offices of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran. A significant number of non-military structures also are reported to have been struck in the capital city and throughout the country since the hostilities escalated. Reports of deaths from ground sources suggest that hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the attacks. Amid continuing hostilities, review of aerial photographs will carry on to document the changing military landscape.