July 3rd 1988: Iran Air Flight 655 shot down
On this day in 1988, the civilian Iran Air flight 655 was shot down by the US Navy, killing all 290 people on board. The US Navy were stationed in the Persian Gulf - ib Iranian airspace - during the Iran-Iraq war exchanging fire with Iranian ships while protecting vital oil routes. On July 3rd 1988, the USS Vincennes mistook the airbus A300 travelling from Tehran to Dubai with a F-14 fighter jet, allegedly because the plane failed to identify itself as civilian. Two surface to air missiles took out the plane, killing all passengers and crew. The victims were predominantly Iranian, with only 38 non-Iranians on board, and included 16 crew and 66 children. Iranian officials assumed the incident was no accident, but rather a purposeful attack, which led Iran to soon accept a UN cease fire. The incident ranks as the eighth deadliest aviation disaster in history. This event, which was recently compared to the MH17 disaster, poisoned relations between Iran and the United States; it still leads the former to distrust the latter, partly because the United states never apologised nor admitted culpability for the disaster.
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