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Multiple US and Israeli strikes has reportedly sunk or crippled a minimum of eleven Iranian naval vessels since the weekend, new orbital imagery demonstrate, with rocket sites and enrichment plants also coming under fire.

Images of the southern Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the main command of the Iranian navy, reveal plumes of smoke rising from multiple vessels on the start of the week.

Maritime Assets Sustained Major Damage

Included in the ships sunk was the Makran, the country's biggest warship which had functioned as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery showed black smoke rising from the ship which had been docked at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical reports suggest that no fewer than five vessels at the port were "hit or sunk". Photos of the southern end of the harbor reveal smoke rising from the Makran, while another pair of vessels seem to be impacted, with one of them seen burning.

Over at the Konarak base, photos reveal multiple harmed ships, with expert review identifying strikes against six ships. Pictures from the start of the week also indicate that multiple structures at the installation have been leveled.

"For many years the Iran's leadership has disrupted commercial vessels," an American commander stated. "Now, there is not one Iranian vessel underway in the Arabian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."

Some ships allegedly destroyed may have been concealed in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or hit in open waters, and have not been conclusively proven. Other accounts suggested that an Iranian vessel was sinking off the coast of Sri Lankan waters, prompting a rescue operation.

Rocket Bases and Atomic Locations Targeted

Neutralizing Iranian missile bases and the hindering of nuclear weapons development were listed as further objectives of the offensive. Aerial imagery also showed strikes on the southerly Khorgu and northwestern Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air air base, where rocket warehouses and bunkers were hit.

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

Destruction was also observed at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern parts of the country, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.

Of particular note, the new round of strikes have apparently targeted installations at the Natanz complex – long said to be at the core of Iran's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body said that the damaged structures were used for access to the facility's underground nuclear plant and that "no nuclear fallout" was expected.

Wider Impact and Assessment

Defense experts suggested that the strikes appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's ability to sustain conventional attacks using its largest warships. Nevertheless, it was noted that Tehran still has the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "ghost fleet" of tankers.

The total scale of the damage caused to Iran's defense infrastructure has yet to be fully assessed, with strikes reportedly persisting. Pictures also indicates widespread damage to the main offices of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the capital Tehran.

A large number of civilian buildings also are reported to have been hit in the capital and throughout the country after the hostilities started. Reports of deaths from ground sources state that hundreds of civilians may have been lost their lives in the attacks.

With the conflict ongoing, review of aerial photographs will carry on to track the changing military landscape.