Satellite images are beginning to be released giving a glimpse into the toll of the Iran war, with ships ablaze in an Iranian port and destroyed buildings at American bases in the region.
Information has so far been scarce about the damage being done across the West Asia, particularly when it’s inside closed military facilities, since the war started on Feb. 28.
The images come from Planet Labs PBC, a San Francisco-based firm used by media outlets, including The Associated Press. Planet Labs has put a two-week delay on its imagery becoming public, citing concerns its imagery could be used by “adversarial actors.”
High-resolution images also have been published by competing firms. Other providers, like the U.S. Geological Survey, have been publishing lower-resolution imagery as well that’s been useful.
The United States and Israel have been striking a wide variety of targets, including leadership figures in Iran, military bases, missile and air defense sites and positions of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its volunteer force, the Basij. Iran has responded with drone and missile fire targeting Israel and nearby Gulf Arab nations.
Here’s a look at what’s visible in a selection of Planet Labs’ pictures, as well as others.
Some of the most dramatic images from Planet Labs so far have been in Bandar Abbas, home to a major Iranian military port next to the crucial Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
A satellite view shows the Bandar Abbas harbour after a strike amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province, Iran, March 2, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
2026 Planet Labs PBC via Reuters
Images taken on March 2 show ships ablaze at the port. The U.S. military’s Central Command has been targeting Iran’s naval assets and says it has sank or damaged more than 100 Iranian vessels so far in the war.
Planet Labs’ images from March 6 show damage to several buildings at the Parchin military base outside Tehran, Iran’s capital.
Israel’s military said its Parchin strikes hit “infrastructure used for the production of essential components for the development of various weapons.” The site has been linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program as well.
The island kingdom of Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, has seen heavy Iranian fire targeting both military bases and oil installations. A March 1 image by Planet Labs shows a major building at the base destroyed, as well as two radomes — geodesic domes covering radar antennas — likely by Iranian missile and drone fire. A later, March 6 Planet Labs photo showed another building damaged.
A satellite image shows smoke rising from the U.S Fifth fleet naval base, after Iranian strikes, in Manama, Bahrain, March 1, 2026. 2026.
| Photo Credit:
2026 Planet Labs PBC via Reuters
The Navy has not offered a clear breakdown in the damage done so far at the base, but Iran has repeatedly claimed to have attacked it. Online videos have also shown incoming fire targeting the base. During the 12-day war in June, Iran attacked and destroyed a similar radome at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, used for secure communications.
An Iranian attack targeted Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base and caused damage there.
This March 15, 2026, satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after an Iranian attack at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.
| Photo Credit:
2026 Planet Labs PBC via AP
A March 1 photo from Planet Labs shows damage to one of the buildings at the massive air base serving as the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command, which is prosecuting the war.
Qatar and the U.S. have not acknowledged the damage.
An Iranian attack also targeted Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base and caused damage there, according to a March 15 photo.
Satellite images, taken March 15 by an Airbus Defense and Space Pléiades Neo satellite and analyzed by the AP, show damage at Abu Dhabi’s Al Dhafra Air Base. Damage can be seen at one set of hangars to the northwest of the facility. Another hangar to the southeast of the facility appears shredded by fire, with an adjacent hangar sustaining roof damage. It’s unclear what was in the hangars.
A damaged U.S. Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft following an Iranian strike on the airbase, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia in this picture obtained from social media released on March 29, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
SOCIAL MEDIA via Reuters
Al Dhafra typically hosts some 2,000 American troops and has served as a major base of operations for everything from armed drones to F-35 stealth fighters in recent years. The U.S. military for years only vaguely referred to Al Dhafra as a base in “southwest Asia” before the UAE became more willing to acknowledge the American presence there.
In Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, there’s damage seen at France’s Camp de la Paix naval base. Satellite images from March 3 show damage to two large hangarlike buildings at the facility. The base is near Zayed Port, in Abu Dhabi, and close to its Cultural District that includes the Louvre Abu Dhabi and other major museums both open and still under construction.
Smoke billows from Zayed port after an Iranian attack, following United States and Israel strikes on Iran, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, March 1, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat satellites also have been key in spotting major fires. Imagery from Landsat taken on Monday showed a fire at Dubai International Airport after an Iranian drone strike set a fuel tanker ablaze at the world’s busiest airport for international travel, causing a plume of noxious black smoke.
This satellite image taken by a U.S. Geological Survey Landsat satellite shows a fire days after a suspected Iranian attack targeting the port in Salalah, Oman, on Monday, March 16, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
U.S. Geological Survey via AP
Another fire was also seen on Monday at Oman’s southern port in Salalah, which came under attack from suspected Iranian drones on March 11, though Tehran has denied launching them in its campaign targeting Gulf Arab states. The fire apparently has been burning since then.
Published – March 31, 2026 06:09 pm IST
