The US Navy “Accident” That Took 290 Innocent Lives
| Arash Norouzi |
“The United States seriously risks being drawn into war in the Persian Gulf...With perhaps 100 warships arrayed in the region and with tensions high and increasing, chances for mishaps are high.”
— U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report (1987)
On July 3, 1988, an Iranian passenger plane on a routine flight was blown out of the sky by a U.S. Navy warship in Iranian territorial waters. All 290 people on board Iran Air Flight 655 were killed, 66 of whom were children below the age of 12.
President Ronald Reagan expressed regret for the tragedy, which the U.S. military claimed was an “accident”, yet the crew of the USS Vincennes warship was subsequently awarded combat-action ribbons, and its Commander was specially commended by the Navy with a medal for “heroic achievement”.
The Iranian government, who called it a “massacre”, and a blatant “cold-blooded, pre-meditated murder”, memorialized the atrocity on a postage stamp, and held large public rallies denouncing the crime.
The U.S. Navy claimed that they mistook the Iranian airbus for an F-14 fighter plane when they fired two missiles at it [See diagram at right for a comparison between the two aircraft]. Asked by reporters outside the White House about Iran’s allegation that the USS Vincennes was too technically advanced to make such a huge mistake, Reagan fumed, “Well, I don’t go much by what the Iranians say, ever”.
Vice President George H.W. Bush was delegated to represent the U.S. at the United Nations Security Council, where he vigorously accused Iran of culpability by allowing the airliner to fly over a war zone. On August 5th, while campaigning for the Presidency, Bush famously vowed,
Reagan’s former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Senator Jim Webb, himself a decorated veteran of the Navy and Marines, has called the incident an example of the United States’ “overly aggressive” relationship with Iran.
For more info, see the thorough joint investigation of the Pentagon’s cover-up of the crime by Newsweek magazine and ABC News Nightline: Sea of Lies: The Inside Story Of How An American Naval Vessel Blundered Into An Attack On Iran Air Flight 655 At The Height Of Tensions During The Iran-Iraq War-And How The Pentagon Tried To Cover Its Tracks After 290 Innocent Civilians Died
When President Donald J. Trump called off scheduled military strikes on June 20th, 2019 in response to Iran’s destruction of an unmanned U.S. drone, he did so after reportedly getting “spooked” by a FOX News interview with a retired Army General and Trump confidant, Jack Keane, earlier the same day.
Warning against escalation, Keane invoked the cautionary tale of the July 3, 1988 shootdown of a passenger plane in Iranian territorial waters, killing 290 innocents. In 1987, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, too, foresaw the risks of its “dangerously nebulous” maneuvers in the Persian Gulf — to no avail.
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(Witness, June 29, 2018, 4:21 minutes)
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#IR655 #NeverForget #NeverForgive pic.twitter.com/ApQgOb5Rb3
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 3, 2014
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That is to say, a government claiming to enjoy civilization, constantly & hypocritically bragging about advocating human rights & pretending to oppose terrorism employs the outcome of human advance achievements for shameful purposes. July 3, 1988
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 3, 2019
The above graphics derive from the social media accounts of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, posted annually on the anniversary of the Iran Air tragedy.
The images are accompanied by quotes from his speeches referencing the incident throughout the years. When the shootdown occurred, Khamenei was the current President of Iran, and he would replace the late Ayatollah Khomeini almost exactly a year later.
The United States never admitted responsibility or formally apologized for the heinous attack.
In a February 1996 settlement officiated by the International Court of Justice, the U.S., recognizing the incident as “a terrible human tragedy” and expressing “deep regret over the loss of lives”, agreed to pay $61,800,000 to the victim’s families. It had already been paying the relatives of the several dozen non-Iranian passengers, mostly of European descent, separately.
July 3, 2008
Taken Question on Iran Air Flight 655
U.S. expresses regret and sympathy to the families of the deceased
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
July 2, 2008
TAKEN QUESTION AT WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2008 DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
Iran Air Flight 655
Question: Does the State Department have anything to say on the 20th Anniversary of the accidental
downing of an Iran Air flight?
Answer: The accidental shooting down of Iran Air Flight 655 was a terrible human tragedy, and U.S. officials at the time expressed our deep regret over the tragic loss of life. We would certainly renew our expression of sympathy and condolences to the families of the deceased who perished in the tragedy.
Related links:
The Vietnam War | IRAN | What Lessons Did America Learn?
US Institute of Peace Corrects “Iran Primer” Errors... Sort Of
Abadan: The First Oil Crisis [BBC Timewatch Video]
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
