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A series of US and Israeli strikes has allegedly sunk or crippled at least eleven warships belonging to Iran starting the weekend, new orbital imagery show, with missile bases and enrichment plants also sustaining hits.

Pictures of the southerly Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz and houses the main command of the Iran's naval force, reveal plumes of smoke rising from a number of warships on recent days.

Maritime Assets Sustained Substantial Damage

Included in the ships sunk was the IRINS Makran, the country's largest naval vessel which had been used as a drone carrier. Aerial imagery displayed dark plumes rising from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence reports suggest that no fewer than five vessels at Bandar Abbas were "struck or destroyed". Photos of the south end of the port show smoke emanating from the IRINS Makran, while additional ships seem to be impacted, with one of them clearly on fire.

Over at the Konarak base, photos reveal multiple harmed ships, with analysis pointing to damage to 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 decades the Iranian regime has threatened global maritime traffic," an American commander declared. "At present, there is not one Iranian ship at sea in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Sea of Oman, and we will persist."

A number of vessels allegedly sunk may have been obscured in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or struck at sea, and have not been independently verified. Additional information indicated that an Iranian vessel was foundering off the coast of Sri Lankan waters, resulting in a rescue operation.

Missile Bases and Atomic Facilities Hit

Eliminating Iran's rocket sites and the stopping enrichment activities were declared as other aims of the offensive. Satellite images also revealed damage at the southerly Khorgu base and north-western Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air air base, where missile storage facilities and fortifications were hit.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base to the west of Kermanshah, significant destruction was identified to storage buildings, underground facilities and UAV launching apparatus.

Impact was also observed at a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase airbase in eastern Iran, near the frontier with neighboring nations.

Perhaps most notably, the most recent series of attacks have reportedly hit sites at Natanz – widely believed to be at the heart of the country's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body commented that the damaged structures were used for access to the facility's underground enrichment facility and that "no nuclear fallout" was expected.

Wider Impact and Assessment

Defense experts stated that the offensive appeared to have "significantly degraded" the Iran's naval ability to carry out standard operations using its largest warships. Nevertheless, it was noted that Tehran still has the capacity to launch asymmetric warfare at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "shadow fleet" of oil ships.

The total scope of the destruction caused to Iranian military facilities remains unclear, with attacks reportedly ongoing. Pictures also indicates widespread damage 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 hit in the capital and throughout Iran since the conflict began. Reports of deaths from ground sources indicate that a high number of civilians may have been fatally injured in the bombardment.

Amid continuing hostilities, monitoring of space-based data will continue to assess the changing scope of damage.