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A series of joint airstrikes has reportedly sunk or crippled at least eleven warships belonging to Iran starting Saturday, new orbital imagery demonstrate, with rocket sites and nuclear sites also coming under fire.

Images of the southern Konarak military port and the Bandar Abbas port installation, which overlooks the strategic Hormuz Strait and is home to the headquarters of the Iranian navy, reveal smoke billowing from multiple ships on Monday and Tuesday.

Naval Assets Sustained Significant Damage

Included in the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, the country's most sizable ship which had served as a drone carrier. Orbital photos showed dark plumes pouring from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Analytical evaluations state that no fewer than a quintet of warships at Bandar Abbas were "hit or sunk". Photos of the south end of the harbor depict smoke emanating from the IRINS Makran, while another pair of ships seem to be impacted, with a single one clearly on fire.

Over at the Konarak base, images reveal numerous damaged vessels, with intelligence reports identifying impacts on six vessels. Images from the start of the week also indicate that a number of buildings at the base have been destroyed.

"For many years the Tehran government has harassed international shipping," a senior US military official declared. "Now, there is no vessel from Iran operational in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."

A number of vessels reportedly destroyed may have been obscured in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or targeted offshore, and have not been independently verified. Other accounts stated that an Iranian vessel was going down near Sri Lankan waters, prompting a search and rescue mission.

Rocket Bases and Atomic Locations Attacked

Neutralizing Tehran's launch facilities and the stopping atomic bomb programs were listed as additional goals of the military strikes. Aerial imagery also depicted impacts against the southerly Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, where rocket warehouses and bunkers were hit.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e unmanned aircraft site west of the city of Kermanshah, extensive damage was observed to storage buildings, underground facilities and drone launch equipment.

Destruction was also noted at a surveillance station at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, close to the frontier with neighboring nations.

Significantly, the most recent series of strikes have apparently focused on sites at Natanz – considered at the center of the country's enrichment efforts. The UN's atomic energy body said that the affected buildings were used for entry to the site's underground nuclear plant and that "no radiological consequence" was expected.

Wider Consequences and Analysis

Defense experts stated that the offensive appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval ability to carry out traditional warfare using its most significant vessels. But, it was emphasised that Iran retains 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 overall scale of the damage caused to Iran's defense facilities has yet to be fully assessed, with hostilities reportedly continuing. Pictures also shows extensive damage to the command center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the capital Tehran.

A significant number of civilian buildings also are reported to have been struck in the capital and throughout the country after the conflict began. Reports of deaths from ground sources state that a high number of civilians may have been killed in the bombardment.

With the conflict ongoing, analysis of space-based data will continue to assess the unfolding scope of damage.