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A series of American and Israeli airstrikes has reportedly sunk or crippled a minimum of 11 Iranian naval vessels starting Saturday, new aerial photos reveal, with launch facilities and atomic facilities also coming under fire.

Photographs of the southerly Konarak naval naval base and the Bandar Abbas port facility, which overlooks the strategic Hormuz Strait and contains the headquarters of the Iranian navy, reveal smoke billowing from several ships on the start of the week.

Naval Forces Incurred Significant Losses

Included in the vessels destroyed was the Makran, Iran's most sizable ship which had served as a unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Orbital photos showed black smoke emanating from the vessel which had been stationed at the Bandar Abbas base.

Intelligence assessments suggest that no fewer than five vessels at the port were "damaged or eliminated". Imagery of the southern part of the port reveal smoke rising from the IRINS Makran, while additional vessels are visibly damaged, with one seen burning.

Over at Konarak, images show several harmed vessels, with expert review identifying damage to a half-dozen warships. Images from the start of the week also demonstrate that multiple facilities at the installation have been destroyed.

"For many years the Iranian regime has harassed commercial vessels," the head of US Central Command stated. "At present, there is no Iranian ship operational in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz Strait or Gulf of Oman, and we will continue."

A number of vessels reportedly sunk may have been concealed in aerial photos by weather conditions or battle damage, or targeted offshore, and have not been conclusively proven. Other accounts suggested that one Iranian ship was foundering near Sri Lanka's territorial waters, prompting a search and rescue mission.

Missile Bases and Nuclear Facilities Hit

Eliminating Iran's rocket sites and the prevention of nuclear weapons development were stated as further aims of the military strikes. Satellite images also depicted strikes on the southern Khorgu base and northwestern Tabriz missile facilities, and at the Konarak base, where rocket warehouses and bunkers were struck.

Over at the Choqa Balk-e drone drone base to the west of Kermanshah, widespread damage was identified to storage buildings, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Destruction was also observed at a radar site at the Zahedan airbase military airport in eastern Iran, near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Significantly, the new round of attacks have reportedly focused on sites at Natanz – widely believed to be at the center of the country's atomic program. The UN's atomic energy body said that the damaged structures were used for access to the facility's below-ground enrichment facility and that "no release of radioactive material" was anticipated.

Wider Impact and Assessment

Defense experts stated that the attacks appeared to have "largely neutralized" the Iran's naval capacity to conduct traditional warfare using its biggest warships. Nevertheless, it was stressed that Iran maintains the option to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, midget subs and its so-called "shadow fleet" of tankers.

The full extent of the damage caused to Iran's defense infrastructure has yet to be fully assessed, with hostilities said to be ongoing. Pictures also reveals extensive destruction to the main offices of the the IRGC in the capital Tehran.

Numerous of civilian buildings also appear to have been hit in the capital city and across Iran after the hostilities began. Reports of deaths from ground sources state that hundreds of non-combatants may have been killed in the strikes.

With the conflict ongoing, monitoring of satellite imagery will continue to document the unfolding battlefield picture.