On July 3, 1988, the American Vincennes missile cruiser, located in the Persian Gulf, released two missiles to the Iran Air passenger airliner. The victims of the IR655 flight disaster were 290 people, mostly Iranians.
Among the victims of the incident are 66 children and 56 women.
IR655 flight followed the TEGEran-Bender-Abbas-Dubai route.
The United States authorities still have not apologized for what happened.
Relatives of the victims of the disaster on every anniversary of the tragic event in memory of throwing flowers into the Ormuzian Strait. The remembrance ceremonies are held throughout the country.
In 1980, the war began between Iran and Iraq, which ended only in 1980. The American fleet entered the Persian Gulf under the pretext of protecting energy supplies, since Iran and Iraq since 1984 began to attack oil tankers who transported oil for the enemy.
IR655’s crash occurred a year after the incident with the American ship Stark, during which the Iraqi Air Force on May 17, 1987 mistakenly attacked the US Navy missile frigate, killing 37 American sailors. Iraq authorities apologized to the American side.
However, after this, the United States in the region took on a more aggressive character.
On April 14, 1988, the American frigate “Samuel B. Roberts” was blown up by the Iranian sea mine, having received serious damage. In response on April 18, 1988, the US operation “Bogomol” was performed.
During the operation, the American military attacked two Iranian oil platforms, the largest Iranian warship of Sahend and the Khana Kushan, the largest military operation, as a result of which 56 Iranian military were killed. Two military were killed in the American helicopter shot down by the Iranian side.
On the morning of July 3, 1988, Vincennes passed through the Strait Ormuzian, it is reported that the helicopter deployed from the cruiser was fired by Iranian patrol ships. Vincennes then pursued Iranian gunboats, entering the territorial waters of Iran.
On the morning of July 3, 1988, the US Navy Airman Vincennes passed through the Strait of the Ormuzian Strait, returning from the watch on escort, and released a rocket on flight 655 by order of the captain of the ship William Rogers.
254 Iranian citizens, 13 citizens of the UAE, 10 citizens of India, 6 citizens of Pakistan, 6 citizens of Yugoslavia and 1 citizen of Italy were killed.