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A series of American and Israeli airstrikes has allegedly eliminated or harmed a minimum of 11 warships belonging to Iran since Saturday, recently obtained orbital imagery show, with launch facilities and atomic facilities also sustaining hits.

Photographs of the southerly Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas installation, which is located on the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the main command of the Iranian navy, show black smoke pouring from multiple ships on recent days.

Maritime Fleet Incurred Significant Damage

Among the targets eliminated was the IRINS Makran, Iran's largest naval vessel which had functioned as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Aerial imagery showed dark plumes rising from the vessel which had been moored at the Bandar Abbas naval base.

Analytical assessments suggest that at least five vessels at the port were "hit or sunk". Imagery of the southern end of the harbor reveal plumes ascending from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of vessels seem to be harmed, with one clearly on fire.

Over at Konarak, images reveal numerous harmed vessels, with analysis identifying damage to a half-dozen warships. Pictures taken on the start of the week also show that a number of structures at the installation have been demolished.

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

A number of ships reportedly destroyed may have been obscured in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or targeted offshore, and have yet to be fully confirmed. Other accounts indicated that a ship from Iran was foundering near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, resulting in a search and rescue mission.

Missile Bases and Nuclear Locations Targeted

The destruction of Iranian missile bases and the prevention of nuclear weapons development were declared as further goals of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also showed impacts against the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were targeted.

At the Choqa Balk-e unmanned aircraft site to the west of Kermanshah, significant damage was identified to storage buildings, underground facilities and UAV launching apparatus.

Destruction was also seen at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase in eastern parts of the country, near the frontier with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most notably, the new round of attacks have apparently targeted installations at Natanz – widely believed to be at the heart of Iran's enrichment efforts. The UN's atomic energy body said that the affected structures were used for entry to the facility's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no release of radioactive material" was anticipated.

Broader Impact and Assessment

Defense experts suggested that the strikes appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iranian navy's ability to carry out standard operations using its largest warships. However, it was stressed that Iran retains the capacity to launch irregular strikes at sea through the use of drones, small submarines and its so-called "shadow fleet" of oil ships.

The total extent of the damage caused to Iran's defense facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with attacks said to be persisting. Pictures also shows widespread damage to the main offices of the the IRGC in the capital Tehran.

Numerous of civilian buildings also seem to have been hit in the capital and throughout Iran since the fighting began. Toll estimates from local officials indicate that many hundreds of non-combatants may have been lost their lives in the strikes.

As the situation develops, review of aerial photographs will persist to document the changing scope of damage.