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A series of American and Israeli attacks has reportedly sunk or crippled a minimum of eleven warships belonging to Iran since the weekend, recently obtained aerial photos show, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also sustaining hits.

Photographs of the southerly Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which is located on the Strait of Hormuz and is home to the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, reveal black smoke pouring from a number of ships on recent days.

Naval Assets Incurred Significant Losses

Included in the ships sunk was the Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had functioned as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery showed dark plumes pouring from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Intelligence evaluations indicate that at least five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern end of the port show smoke rising from the Makran, while another pair of vessels are visibly impacted, with one clearly on fire.

Over at Konarak, photos display numerous damaged ships, with expert review pointing to damage to six vessels. Pictures taken on the start of the week also indicate that a number of facilities at the installation have been leveled.

"For decades the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping," the head of US Central Command stated. "At present, there is not one vessel from Iran operational in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will continue."

A number of vessels reportedly destroyed may have been obscured in satellite images by weather conditions or battle damage, or struck at sea, and have not been conclusively proven. Additional information suggested that an Iranian vessel was going down off the coast of Sri Lankan territorial waters, leading to a rescue operation.

Rocket Bases and Atomic Locations Attacked

Neutralizing Iran's rocket sites and the stopping nuclear weapons development were stated as additional goals of the military strikes. Satellite images also showed damage at the southerly Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were struck.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base west of the city of Kermanshah, significant damage was seen to warehouses, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Impact was also noted at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most notably, the most recent series of attacks have apparently focused on installations at the Natanz complex – long said to be at the heart of the country's atomic program. An international watchdog stated that the damaged buildings were used for entry to the facility's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no radiological consequence" was likely.

Wider Consequences and Assessment

Observers indicated that the strikes appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iranian navy's capability to carry out traditional warfare using its biggest vessels. Nevertheless, it was emphasised that Iran maintains the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of tankers.

The total scope of the damage caused to Iranian military facilities remains unclear, with hostilities reportedly persisting. Photos also shows considerable destruction to the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tehran.

Numerous of civilian buildings also appear to have been damaged in the capital city and across the country since the fighting escalated. Toll estimates from ground sources indicate that many hundreds of civilians may have been killed in the bombardment.

With the conflict ongoing, monitoring of space-based data will persist to assess the changing military landscape.