1988 Iran Air Flight 655
| Iran Air Flight 655 | |
| File:USS Vincennes launching SM-2MR in 1987.jpgFile:Iran Air 655 Strait of hormuz 80.jpg | |
| Type 1 | Plane psyops |
| Type 2 | War psyops |
| Year | 1988 |
| Date | 07/03 |
| Place | Strait of Hormuz, Iran |
| Perps | US Navy |
| Information | |
| Fakeologist | |
| Other | [WP 1][ACI 1] |
Iran Air Flight 655 was a plane crash psyop taking place on July 3, 1988. The flight crashed after it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired by the US Navy. All 274 passengers and 16 crew, 290 people on board allegedly died.
Official story
Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai, via Bandar Abbas, that was shot down on 3 July 1988 by an SM-2MR surface-to-air missile fired from USS Vincennes, a guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy. The aircraft, an Airbus A300, was destroyed, and all 290 people on board, including 66 children, were killed. The jet was hit while flying over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, along the flight's usual route, shortly after departing Bandar Abbas International Airport, the flight's stopover location. Vincennes had entered Iranian territory after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.
The reason for the shootdown has been disputed between the governments of the two countries. According to the United States government, the crew of USS Vincennes had incorrectly identified the Airbus as an attacking F-14 Tomcat, a U.S.-made jet fighter that had been part of the Iranian Air Force inventory since the 1970s. While the F-14s had been supplied to Iran in an air-to-air configuration, the crew of the guided missile cruiser had been briefed that the Iranian F-14s were equipped with air-to-ground ordnance. Vincennes had made ten attempts to contact the aircraft on both military and civilian radio frequencies, but had received no response.
The International Civil Aviation Organization said that the flight crew should have been monitoring the civilian frequency. According to the Iranian government, the cruiser negligently shot down the aircraft, which was transmitting IFF squawks in Mode III, a signal that identified it as a civilian aircraft, and not Mode II as used by Iranian military aircraft. The event generated a great deal of criticism of the United States. Some analysts blamed the captain of Vincennes, William C. Rogers III, for overly-aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment. In the days immediately following the incident, US President Ronald Reagan issued a written diplomatic note to the Iranian government, expressing deep regret.[WP 1]
Analysis
- Iran releases postage stamp on 08/11 [88], '88.
- Following the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 5 months later, the British and American governments initially blamed the PFLP-GC, a Palestinian militant group backed by Syria, with assumptions of assistance from Iran in retaliation for Flight 655.[WP 1]
- The plane shootdown appears in the series Mayday, season 3 (2005).[ACI 1]
See also
References
Fakeologist