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Multiple joint attacks has reportedly destroyed or damaged a minimum of 11 Iranian naval vessels since the weekend, freshly analyzed aerial photos demonstrate, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also being targeted.

Images of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the headquarters of the Iranian navy, reveal black smoke pouring from several warships on the start of the week.

Naval Fleet Sustained Significant Losses

Included in the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, the country's largest naval vessel which had served as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery showed thick smoke rising from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Analytical reports indicate that no fewer than five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "struck or destroyed". Photos of the southern end of the harbor depict plumes ascending from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of ships are visibly harmed, with a single one visibly ablaze.

At the Konarak base, images show multiple harmed ships, with intelligence reports identifying impacts on a half-dozen warships. Pictures from the start of the week also demonstrate that a number of facilities at the installation have been destroyed.

"For a long time the Iranian regime has disrupted global maritime traffic," a senior US military official declared. "At present, there is not one Iranian ship operational in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."

Some vessels allegedly sunk may have been obscured in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or hit in open waters, and have not been conclusively proven. Separate reports suggested that a ship from Iran was going down near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, prompting a rescue operation.

Missile Installations and Atomic Locations Targeted

Eliminating Tehran's launch facilities and the stopping atomic bomb programs were listed as additional objectives of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also revealed strikes on the southerly Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where weapons bunkers and fortifications were targeted.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone unmanned aircraft site to the west of Kermanshah, extensive damage was observed to sheds, bunkers and unmanned aircraft systems.

Impact was also seen at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern Iran, close to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most notably, the new round of strikes have reportedly focused on facilities at Natanz – widely believed to be at the core of the country's nuclear programme. A global monitoring agency stated that the affected structures were used for access to the facility's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.

Wider Fallout and Assessment

Defense experts suggested that the offensive appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iranian navy's capacity to conduct standard operations using its most significant warships. However, it was noted that Iran maintains the capacity to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "clandestine network" of tankers.

The overall scope of the destruction caused to Iran's defense facilities is still uncertain, with strikes reportedly continuing. Photos also indicates widespread destruction to the command center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.

A large number of non-military structures also appear to have been damaged in the capital city and across Iran since the fighting began. Casualty figures from ground sources state that a high number of non-combatants may have been fatally injured in the strikes.

As the situation develops, review of aerial photographs will carry on to assess the unfolding military landscape.