Iran Air Flight 655 Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Iran Air Flight 655 "IR655" was a commercial flight operated by Iran Air, that flew on a Tehran-Bandar Abbas-Dubai route. On July 3, 1988, the flight was shot down by USS Vincennes on the Bandar Abbas-Dubai leg, which resulted in 290 victims.The first leg of the flight went as planned, and the plane, an Airbus A300, left Bandar Abbas at 9:50am that day. It would have been a 28 minute flight.
At that same time, the US Navy guided missile cruiser, USS Vincennes, fitted with the Aegis combat system, was nearby in the Strait of Hormuz which the commercial airliner, flown by captain Mohsen Rezaian, would pass over. The American ship was captained by Commander William C. Rogers III. At the time of the incident, the Vincennes was within Iranian territorial waters, in an encounter with Iranian naval boats.
What happened next has long been debated.
According to US government accounts, the American ship mistakingly identified the Iranian airplane as an attacking military jet. According to the same reports the American ship tried more than once to contact Flight 655, but there was no acknowledgement. At 9:54am, with the civilian jet about 10 miles away, the Americans fired SM-2 antiaircraft missiles. One broke the plane into two halves and also damaged the plane's tail and right wing sections. Only afterwards it was realised that the plane had indeed been a civilian airliner.
This version was finalised in a report [1] by Admiral Fogarty titled "Formal Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Downing of Iran Air Flight 655 on 3 July 1988". This report is so far only partially released (part I in 1988, part II in 1993), a fact criticised by many observers.
Independent investigations into the events though have resulted in a different picture. Barry and Charles from the Newsweek magazine came to the conclusion that Captain Rogers acted recklessly and without due care. The report further accused the US government of a cover-up. [1]
An analysis [1] of the events by the International Strategic Studies Association described the deployment of an Aegis cruiser in the zone as irresponsible and felt that the expense of the ship had played a major part in the setting of a low threshold for opening fire.
While issuing notes of regret over the loss of human life, the US government has so far not admitted any wrongdoing or responsibility in this tragedy, nor apologized, but continued to blame Iranian hostile actions for the incident.
In a judgement from the 6 November 2003 the International Court of Justice concluded that American navy's actions in the Persian Gulf at the time had been unlawful.
Most officers involved in the shooting down of the aircraft received decorations for their action.
The incident continued to overshadow the Iranian-American relationship for many years. Following the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 the British and American governments initially publicly blamed the PFLP-GC, a Palestinian terrorist group backed by Syria, with assumptions of assistance from Iran in retaliation for Iran Air Flight 655. Only later this blame was shifted onto Libya.
See Also
- Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
- Korean Air Lines flight 007
External links
- Sea of Lies - an account of the incident critical of the US explanations.
- A collection of US government's public statements on Iran Air Flight 655
This is an Article on Iran Air Flight 655. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Iran Air Flight 655