Orbital Pictures Show Iranian Navy and Nuclear Locations Hit by Joint US and Israeli Strikes.

A wave of US and Israeli strikes has reportedly destroyed or damaged a minimum of eleven Iranian naval vessels since Saturday, recently obtained satellite images reveal, with launch facilities and nuclear sites also coming under fire.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which sits on the strategic Hormuz Strait and is home to the headquarters of the Iran's naval force, depict plumes of smoke rising from a number of ships on the start of the week.

Maritime Fleet Sustained Major Damage

Included in the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, the country's most sizable ship which had been used as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos showed dark plumes pouring from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence assessments suggest that no fewer than a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "damaged or eliminated". Photos of the south end of the port reveal smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while two other ships seem to be impacted, with a single one visibly ablaze.

Over at Konarak, photos show multiple damaged vessels, with intelligence reports pointing to damage to six ships. Pictures from Monday also indicate that several facilities at the installation have been leveled.

"For decades the Iranian regime has threatened global maritime traffic," a senior US military official stated. "Today, there is not a single Iranian ship at sea in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop."

A number of vessels allegedly sunk may have been hidden in satellite images by haze or plumes, or struck at sea, and have not been independently verified. Separate reports stated that a ship from Iran was foundering near Sri Lankan territorial waters, leading to a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Sites and Nuclear Locations Targeted

The destruction of Iranian missile bases and the stopping atomic bomb programs were listed as other objectives of the military strikes. Satellite images also showed damage at the southerly Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where rocket warehouses and fortifications were struck.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone unmanned aircraft site west of Kermanshah, extensive damage was seen to sheds, bunkers and UAV launching apparatus.

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 latest wave of strikes have reportedly targeted installations at Natanz – considered at the core of Iran's nuclear programme. A global monitoring agency commented that the affected structures were used for entry to the facility's below-ground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was expected.

Broader Impact and Assessment

Observers suggested that the attacks appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's capability to sustain traditional warfare using its biggest vessels. However, it was noted that Tehran maintains the ability to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of drones, mini-submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of oil ships.

The total extent of the damage caused to Iranian military infrastructure has yet to be fully assessed, with hostilities reportedly continuing. Photos also reveals considerable destruction to the main offices of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the capital Tehran.

A significant number of non-military structures also are reported to have been damaged in the capital and throughout Iran after the conflict escalated. Casualty figures from local officials indicate that hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the strikes.

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