Newly captured satellite imagery from the ongoing conflict with Iran shows it’s biggest warship — a former oil tanker converted into a floating base — on fire at a military port.
The imagery, captured on Monday by the US commercial imaging firm Planet Labs PBC and obtained by Business Insider, shows a massive plume of smoke rising from what analysts identified as the IRINS Makran in the harbor at Bandar Abbas, an Iranian port city adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz and the Makran’s home port.
President Donald Trump vowed on Saturday to “annihilate” Iran’s navy as he announced the start of “major combat operations” against the country.
US Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, said on Monday that it has destroyed all 11 of Iran’s ships in the Gulf of Oman. It was not immediately clear if that tally includes the Makran.
Commercial satellite imagery captured by US spatial intelligence firm Vantor on Sunday showed destroyed and sinking vessels, as well as damaged buildings at the Iranian naval base in Konarak.
Iran converted the Makran, an oil tanker, into a forward base ship in 2020 and commissioned the vessel into the navy the following year. Technically not a combat ship, it is still Iran’s largest warship and can carry roughly a dozen helicopters.
The deck can accommodate missile and rocket artillery launchers, as well as vertical takeoff and landing drones. The vessel has completed several long-distance voyages, including one that circled the globe.
The Makran is one of several Iranian warships that were once civilian vessels. In recent years, Tehran has converted several container ships into militarized drone carriers.
CENTCOM said it struck one of these vessels, the Shahid Bagheri, in the opening hours of the conflict over the weekend. The carrier’s status is unknown.
The US strikes initially focused on Iran’s naval forces, command and control facilities, intelligence infrastructure, and ballistic missile sites, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Monday.
US and Israeli aircraft have also targeted Iranian air defenses, paving the way for both militaries to secure air superiority over large parts of the country.
Additional satellite imagery shows widespread damage across Iran, including at drone and air bases, official compounds, and missile bases. Other military infrastructure, such as radar systems, was also struck.
Iran has retaliated by launching waves of missiles and drones at bases hosting US forces across the Middle East, Israel, and most other countries in the region, including the Gulf states.
The US and its allies have said that they have intercepted hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones. Some have slipped past air defenses, though, killing more than a dozen people across the region, including six American service members.
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