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A wave of joint airstrikes has according to analysis destroyed or damaged a minimum of eleven Iranian naval vessels starting the weekend, new orbital imagery reveal, with rocket sites and enrichment plants also being targeted.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas facility, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and is home to the main command of the Iranian navy, show smoke billowing from multiple warships on recent days.

Naval Fleet Sustained Significant Damage

Included in the targets eliminated was the IRINS Makran, Iran's biggest warship which had been used as a drone carrier. Orbital photos displayed thick smoke rising from the ship which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence reports suggest that at least five vessels at the port were "struck or destroyed". Pictures of the southern end of the harbor show plumes ascending from the Makran, while additional ships appear to be harmed, with one of them clearly on fire.

At Konarak, photos reveal multiple harmed vessels, with analysis identifying impacts on a half-dozen warships. Pictures taken on the start of the week also demonstrate that a number of structures at the installation have been destroyed.

"For many years the Iran's leadership has threatened international shipping," the head of US Central Command declared. "Today, there is not one Iranian ship underway in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Sea of Oman, and we will continue."

Some vessels allegedly destroyed may have been hidden in aerial photos by cloud or smoke, or hit in open waters, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts indicated that a ship from Iran was foundering near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, leading to a rescue operation.

Missile Bases and Nuclear Locations Targeted

Eliminating Iran's rocket sites and the stopping atomic bomb programs were declared as further goals of the military strikes. Satellite images also showed impacts against the southerly Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz facilities, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone base to the west of the city of Kermanshah, extensive destruction was seen to storage buildings, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.

Destruction was also observed at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern Iran, close to the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Significantly, the latest wave of attacks have apparently focused on installations at the Natanz complex – widely believed to be at the center of Iran's nuclear programme. An international watchdog commented that the damaged structures were used for entry to the facility's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was anticipated.

Wider Consequences and Assessment

Defense experts indicated that the strikes appeared to have "greatly reduced" the Iranian navy's capacity to conduct traditional warfare using its biggest warships. But, it was emphasised that Tehran retains the ability to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "clandestine network" of oil ships.

The full extent of the destruction caused to Iranian military facilities remains unclear, with attacks said to be ongoing. Imagery also shows considerable destruction to the main offices of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the city of Tehran.

A significant number of non-military structures also are reported to have been struck in the capital and across the country since the hostilities escalated. Casualty figures from ground sources state that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the strikes.

As the situation develops, monitoring of space-based data will persist to track the unfolding battlefield picture.