| Occurrence Type: | Shootdown |
| Iran Air Flight 655 | |
| Image Upright: | 1.15 |
| Type: | Shot down by a missile fired from ; reason for shootdown disputed |
| Site: | Strait of Hormuz, near Qeshm Island, Iran |
| Aircraft Type: | Airbus A300B2-203 |
| Operator: | Iran Air |
| Iata: | IR655 |
| Icao: | IRA655 |
| Callsign: | IRANAIR 655 |
| Tail Number: | EP-IBU |
| Origin: | Mehrabad International Airport Tehran, Iran |
| Stopover: | Bandar Abbas International Airport Bandar Abbas, Iran |
| Destination: | Dubai International Airport Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
| Occupants: | 290 |
| Passengers: | 274 |
| Crew: | 16 |
| Fatalities: | 290 |
| Survivors: | 0 |
Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas that was shot down on 3July 1988 by two surface-to-air missiles fired by, a United States Navy warship. The missiles hit the aircraft, an Airbus A300, while it was flying its usual route over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, shortly after the flight departed its stopover location, Bandar Abbas International Airport. All 290 people on board were killed.[1] The shootdown occurred during the Iran–Iraq War, which had been continuing for nearly eight years. Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.[2] [3] [4]
The reason for the downing has been disputed between the governments of the two countries. According to the United States, Vincennes crew misidentified the aircraft as an F-14 Tomcat, a US-made fighter jet part of the Iranian inventory, despite it transmitting civilian identification codes. They assert that the Vincennes and other warships repeatedly contacted the aircraft on both civilian and military air distress frequencies, but received no response. Bandar Abbas acted as a joint civilian/military airport, and Flight 655 had departed behind schedule. The Iranian government maintains that the US recklessly shot down the aircraft, violating international law, after repeatedly provoking the Iranian forces. Some analysts blamed the overly aggressive attitude of Vincennes captain, William C. Rogers III, whilst others focused on more widespread issues and miscommunications onboard.
The United States was criticised for the downing, especially in its initial response. Whilst not issuing a formal apology, American president Ronald Reagan issued a written diplomatic note to Iran, expressing deep regret. In 1996, both governments reached a settlement in the International Court of Justice in which the US agreed to pay million (equivalent to $ million in) on an ex gratia basis to the families of the victims. As part of the settlement, the US did not admit liability for the shootdown.
In 1984, the war between Iraq and Iran had expanded to include air attacks against oil tankers and merchant shipping of neighbouring countries, some of whom were providing aid to Iraq by shipping Iraqi oil. In 1987, a year preceding the shootdown, the Iraqi Air Force had attacked the U.S. Navy frigate, killing 37 American sailors, after misidentifying it as an Iranian warship. After a U.S. oil tanker struck a mine in the Persian Gulf, additional warships were dispatched to the area; by late 1987, US forces had challenged and launched missiles at two Iranian fighter jets. In April 1988, the U.S. engaged in Operation Praying Mantis, in retaliation for mines, bringing significant damage to Iranian oil infrastructure and its military.
By 3 July, USS Vincennes, alongside and, had been assigned to take part in an escort were travelling through the Strait of Hormuz before the incident. Vincennes was a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, commissioned four years earlier, fitted with the then-new Aegis Combat System. With a crew of 400, it was under the command of Captain William C. Rogers III at the time of the shootdown. The Aegis system was capable of tracking multiple mobile targets simultaenously, both naval and airborne, and more importantly allowed rapid dissemination of information between different levels of the crew. Its crew was inexperienced in actual conflict but had performed highly in training scenarios.
At its narrowest point the Strait of Hormuz is 21nmi wide, and as a result, in order to traverse the strait, ships must stay within sea lanes that pass through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.[5] It is normal for ships, including warships, entering or leaving the Persian Gulf to transit Iranian territorial waters. During the Iran–Iraq War the Iranian forces frequently boarded and inspected neutral cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz in search of contraband destined for Iraq. While legal under international law, these inspections added to the tensions in the area.[6]
In response to the pattern of attacks on shipping, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a 'Notice to Airmen' (NOTAM) on 8September 1987, warning all Persian Gulf countries that civilian aircraft must monitor the International Air Distress frequencies and be prepared to identify themselves to U.S. Navy ships and state their intentions; Iran disputed the validity and accuracy of these notices.
The plane, an Airbus A300 (registered as), was under the control of 38-year-old Captain Mohsen Rezaian, a veteran pilot with 7,000 hours of flight time, including over 2,000 in an Airbus A300. The first officer was 31-year-old Kamran Teymouri and the flight engineer was 33-year-old Mohammad Reza Amini. All had at least 2,000 flight hours.
Flight 655 left Bandar Abbas at 10:17 Iran Standard Time (UTC+03:30), 27 minutes after its scheduled departure time, due to an immigration issue. Before takeoff from runway 21, it was directed by the Bandar Abbas tower to turn on its transponder and proceed over the Persian Gulf. The flight was assigned routinely to commercial air corridor Amber 59, a 20miles lane on a direct line to Dubai airport. The short distance made for a simple flight pattern: climb to 14000feet, cruise, and descend into Dubai. The airliner was transmitting the correct transponder "squawk" code typical of a civilian aircraft (mode 3) and maintained radio contact in English with appropriate air traffic control facilities.
On the morning of 3 July 1988, USS Vincennes was passing through the Strait of Hormuz, returning from an oil tanker escort duty. A helicopter deployed from the cruiser reportedly received small arms fire from Iranian patrol vessels as it observed from high altitude. Vincennes moved to engage the Iranian vessels, in the course of which they all violated Omani waters and left after being challenged and ordered to leave by a Royal Navy of Oman warship.[7] Vincennes then pursued the Iranian gunboats, entering Iranian territorial waters. Two other U.S. Navy ships, and, were nearby. Admiral Crowe said the cruiser's helicopter was over international waters when the gunboats first fired upon it.
Flight 655 was first detected by Vincennes immediately after takeoff when it received a short IFF Mode II, possibly leading the crew of Vincennes to believe the airliner was an Iranian F-14 Tomcat diving into an attack profile. Contrary to the accounts of various Vincennes crew members, the cruiser's Aegis Combat System recorded that the airliner was climbing at the time and its radio transmitter was squawking on only the Mode III civilian frequency, and not on the military Mode II.[8]
Since the USS Stark incident, in which an Iraqi Air Force aircraft attacked a US warship believing it to be hostile, all aircraft in the area had to monitor 121.5 MHz, the International Air Distress (IAD) radio frequency. A total of 11 attempts were made to warn the airliner, seven on the Military Air Distress (MAD) frequency, and four on the IAD frequency. There were no responses.
With the aircraft not answering radio challenges and continuing towards Vincennes, the ship's crew commenced the process to engage it. The naval officer responsible for authorizing a missile launch, the watch's Anti-Air Warfare Coordinator (AAWC), pushed wrong buttons no fewer than five times in response to a system message to select a weapon. In the meantime, the officer in charge of firing missiles, the watch's Missile System Supervisor (MSS), pushed "REQUEST RADIATION ASSIGN" no fewer than 22 times, all without effect due to the AAWC not completing the appropriate process at his console. The AAWC finally selected the correct input at his console, allowing the MSS to again push "REQUEST RADIATION ASSIGN" and continue the procedure.
At 10:24:22, with the aircraft at a range of, Vincennes fired two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles. The first missile intercepted the airliner at 10:24:43 at a range of, and the second missile intercepted the airliner shortly after. The plane disintegrated immediately in three pieces (cockpit, wing section and the tail section) and soon crashed into the water. None of the 290 passengers and crew on board survived.[9] The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were never found.[10]
At the time the missiles were launched, the Vincennes was located at, placing it within the 12nmi limit of Iranian territorial seas.[11] The location of Vincennes in Iranian territorial waters at the time of the incident was admitted by the U.S. government in legal briefs and publicly by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral William J. Crowe, on Nightline.[12] [13]
| Nation | Passengers | Crew | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 238 | 16 | 254 | ||
 United Arab Emirates | 13 | 0 | 13 | |
 India | 10 | 0 | 10 | |
 Pakistan | 6 | 0 | 6 | |
| 6 | 0 | 6 | ||
 Italy | 1[14] | 0 | 1 | |
| Total | 274 | 16 | 290 |
Pentagon officials initially said Vincennes had shot down an Iranian F-14, but issued a retraction within hours and confirmed Iranian reports that the target was instead a civilian Airbus.[15] According to the U.S. government, Vincennes mistakenly identified the airliner as an attacking military fighter and misidentified its flight profile as being similar to that of an F-14A Tomcat during an attack run; however, the cruiser's Aegis Combat System recorded the plane's flight plan as climbing (not descending as in an attack run) at the time of the incident. The flight had originated at Bandar Abbas which served both as a base for Iranian F-14 operations and as a hub for commercial flights.[16] According to the same reports, Vincennes unsuccessfully tried to contact the approaching aircraft, seven times on the military emergency frequency and three times on the civilian emergency frequency. The civilian aircraft was not equipped to receive military frequencies and the messages on the civilian emergency channel could have been directed at any aircraft. More confusion arose as the hailed speed was the ground speed, while the pilot's instruments displayed airspeed, a 50kn difference.[17] In 1990 investigative journalist Roger Charles obtained a full copy of the Fogarty report which included a map and coordinates of Vincennes. Charles concluded that Vincennes was about 4km (02miles) inside Iranian territorial waters at the time of the shootdown.
This was admitted in a report by Admiral William Fogarty, entitled Formal Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Downing of Iran Air Flight 655 on 3July 1988 (the "Fogarty report"). The Fogarty report stated, "The data from USS Vincennes tapes, information from USS Sides and reliable intelligence information, corroborate the fact that [Iran Air Flight 655] was on a normal commercial air flight plan profile, in the assigned airway, squawking Mode III 6760, on a continuous ascent in altitude from takeoff at Bandar Abbas to shoot-down.".[18]
The Fogarty report also claimed, "Iran must share the responsibility for the tragedy by hazarding one of their civilian airliners by allowing it to fly a relatively low altitude air route in close proximity to hostilities that had been ongoing."
When questioned in a 2000 BBC documentary, the U.S. government stated in a written answer that they believed the incident may have been caused by a simultaneous psychological condition amongst the eighteen bridge crew of Vincennes, called "scenario fulfilment", which is said to occur when people are under pressure. In such a situation, the crew will carry out a training scenario, believing it to be reality while ignoring sensory information that contradicts the scenario. In the case of this incident, the scenario was an attack by a lone military aircraft.[19]
According to the Iranian government, the shootdown was an intentionally performed and unlawful act. Even if there was a mistaken identification, which Iran never accepted, it argues that this constituted negligence and recklessness amounting to an international crime, not an accident.
In particular, Iran expressed scepticism about claims of misidentification, noting that the cruiser's advanced Aegis radar correctly tracked the flight and its Mode III beacon; two other U.S. warships in the area, Sides and Montgomery, also identified the aircraft as civilian; and the flight was well within a recognized international air corridor. It also noted that the crew of Vincennes were trained to handle simultaneous attacks by hundreds of enemy aircraft. Iran found it more plausible that Vincennes "hankered for an opportunity to show its stuff".
According to Iran, the U.S. had previously issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), warning aircraft that they were at risk of "defensive measures" if they had not been cleared from a regional airport and if they came within of a warship at an altitude of less than 2000feet. Flight 655 had been cleared from a regional airport and was well outside those limits when it was attacked. The crew of the Vincennes has incorrectly been briefed that F-14s had been supplied to Iran with air-to-ground ordinance, when in reality they were only capable of air-to-air.[20] [21] Even if the plane had truly been an Iranian F-14, Iran argued that the U.S. would not have had the right to shoot it down, as it was flying within Iranian airspace and did not follow a path that could be considered an attack profile, nor did it illuminate Vincennes with radar. Prior to the incident, Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters and was inside these waters when it launched its missiles. Even had the crew of Flight 655 made mistakes, the U.S. government would remain responsible for the actions of Vincennes
Iran pointed out that in the past "the United States has steadfastly condemned the shooting down of aircraft, whether civil or military, by the armed forces of another State" and cited El Al Flight 402, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114, and Korean Air Lines Flight 007, among other incidents. Iran also noted that when Iraq attacked the USS Stark, the U.S. found Iraq fully responsible on the grounds that the Iraqi pilot "knew or should have known" he was attacking a U.S. warship. Speaking to the United Nations Security Council, Ali Akbar Velayati, Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, called the shootdown the "most inhuman military attack in the history of civil aviation", caused by a "reckless and incompetent naval force".[22]
In 1989, prior to the public exposure of Vincennes
Lowenfeld also pointed out that the amount of compensation paid for Iranian victims was one-tenth the amount demanded from Iraq for American dead aboard the USS Stark.[25]
One legal scholar noted in the Yale Journal of International Law: "The downing of Flight 655 should not be deemed lawful merely because the Vincennes
In an article published in Newsweek magazine on 13 July 1992, John Barry and Roger Charles argued that Rogers behaved recklessly and without due care. The Newsweek article also accused the U.S. government of a cover-up but, on July 21, Admiral Crowe denied any knowledge:[27] An analysis 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 value placed on Aegis cruisers by the U.S. Navy had played a major part in the setting of a low threshold for opening fire.[28] Vincennes had been nicknamed "RoboCruiser" by crew members and other U.S. Navy ships, in reference to both its Aegis system and the supposed aggressive tendencies of its captain.[29] [30]
The International Court of Justice case relating to "the Aerial Incident of July 3, 1988" (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America), was dropped on 22 February 1996 following settlement and compensation by the United States.[31]
Three years after the incident, Admiral Crowe admitted on American television show Nightline that Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial waters when it launched the missiles, contradicting earlier Navy statements. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) report of December 1988 placed Vincennes well inside Iran's territorial waters.[32]
Commander David Carlson, commanding officer of USS Sides, the warship stationed nearest to Vincennes at the time of the incident, is reported to have said that the destruction of the aircraft "marked the horrifying climax to Captain Rogers's aggressiveness, first seen four weeks ago".[33] His comment referred to incidents on 2June, when Rogers had sailed Vincennes too close to an Iranian frigate undertaking a lawful search of a bulk carrier, launched a helicopter within 2to of a small Iranian craft despite rules of engagement requiring a 4miles separation, and opened fire on small Iranian military boats. Of those incidents, Carlson commented: "Why do you want an Aegis cruiser out there shooting up boats? It wasn't a smart thing to do." He said that Iranian forces he had encountered in the area a month prior to the incident were "pointedly non-threatening" and professional.[34] At the time of Rogers's announcement to higher command that he was going to shoot down the plane, Carlson is reported to have been thunderstruck: "I said to folks around me, 'Why, what the hell is he doing?' I went through the drill again. F-14. He's climbing. By now this damn thing is at 7,000 feet." Carlson thought the Vincennes might have more information and was unaware that Rogers had been wrongly informed that the plane was diving. Carlson is reported to have written in the U.S. Naval Proceedings that he had "wondered aloud in disbelief" on hearing of Vincennes
The official ICAO report stated that 11 attempts were made to contact Iran Air Flight 655 from the Vincennes: eight on military frequencies and three on commercial frequencies, addressed to an "unidentified Iranian aircraft" and giving its speed as 350kn, which was the ground speed of the aircraft their radar reported. Flight 655's crew, however, would have seen a speed of 300kn on their cockpit instruments, which was their indicated airspeed, possibly leading them to conclude that Vincennes was talking to another aircraft. Both Sides and Vincennes tried contacting Flight 655 on several civilian and military frequencies. International investigations concluded that Flight 655's crew assumed the three calls they received before the missiles struck must have been directed at an Iranian P-3 Orion (see below).
It is likely that the crew were monitoring the civilian International Air Distress (IAD) frequency at the time of the shootdown.[36] In its report, the ICAO found that "American warships in the gulf had no equipment that allowed them to monitor civilian air traffic control radio frequencies", and had they had such capabilities air traffic control transmissions would have identified the flight.[37] In its ICJ statement, Iran disputed this by claiming that the Department of Defense's report explicitly mentioned the Vincennes VHF radio equipment that would have allowed it to monitor civilian air traffic control frequencies, as well as other US surveillance activities in the Persian Gulf region that would have alerted them of the aircraft's nature. The US objected to this claim, saying that most of its military vessels were only equipped with VHR radios capable of listening to the IAD frequency.
In 1991, political scientist Robert Entman of George Washington University compared U.S. media coverage of the incident with the similar shootdown of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 by the Soviet Union five years earlier by studying material from Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post and CBS Evening News. According to Entman, framing techniques were used to frame the Korean Airlines incident as sabotage while framing the Iran Air incident as a tragic mistake, stating "the angle taken by the U.S. media emphasized the moral bankruptcy and guilt of the perpetrating nation. With Iran Air 655, the frame de-emphasised guilt and focused on the complex problems of operating military high technology."[46] By "de-emphasizing the agency and the victims and by the choice of graphics and adjectives, the news stories about the U.S. downing of an Iranian plane called it a technical problem while the Soviet downing of a Korean jet was portrayed as a moral outrage." Entman included polling that appeared to show that the unbalanced coverage swayed public opinion against the Soviet Union and Iran.[47] In July 2014, when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in Ukraine, some commentators noted the discrepancy between the U.S. official position and media coverage of the two similar incidents.[48] [49]
The event sparked an intense international controversy, with Iran condemning the attack. In mid-July 1988, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati asked the United Nations Security Council to condemn the United States saying the attack "could not have been a mistake" and was a "criminal act", a "massacre", and an "atrocity". George H. W. Bush, then-vice president of the United States in the Reagan administration, defended his country at the UN by arguing that the U.S. attack had been a wartime incident and the crew of Vincennes had acted appropriately to the situation.[50] The Soviet Union asked the U.S. to withdraw from the area and supported efforts by the Security Council to end the Iran–Iraq War. Most of the remainder of the 13 delegates who spoke supported the U.S. position, saying one of the problems was that a 1987 resolution to end the Iran–Iraq war had been ignored.[51] Following the debate, Security Council Resolution 616 was passed expressing "deep distress" over the U.S. attack and "profound regret" for the loss of human lives, and stressing the need to end the Iran–Iraq War as resolved in 1987.[52]
Inside Iran, this shootdown was perceived as a purposeful attack by the United States, signalling that the U.S. was about to enter into a direct war against Iran on the side of Iraq.[53]
In February 1996, the U.S. agreed to pay Iran US$131.8 million in settlement to discontinue a case brought by Iran in 1989 against the U.S. in the International Court of Justice relating to this incident, together with other earlier claims before the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal. US$61.8 million of the claim was in compensation for the 248 Iranians killed in the shootdown: $300,000 per wage-earning victim and $150,000 per non-wage-earner.[54]
The U.S. government issued notes of regret for the loss of human lives, but never formally apologized or acknowledged wrongdoing.[55] On 5July 1988 President Ronald Reagan expressed regret; when directly asked if he considered the statement an apology, Reagan replied, "Yes."[56] George H. W. Bush, then Vice President of the United States, commented on another occasion, in a televised recording, while addressing a group of Republican ethnic leaders during the 1988 presidential campaign: "I will never apologize for the United States—I don't care what the facts are... I'm not an apologize-for-America kind of guy."[57] The quote, although unrelated to the downing of the Iranian airliner and not in any official capacity, has been mistakenly attributed as such.[58] [59] Bush used the phrase frequently[60] during the 1988 presidential election campaign and promised to "never apologize for the United States" months prior to the July 1988 shoot-down[61] and as early as January 1988.[62] [63]
The incident overshadowed Iran–United States relations for many years. The former CIA analyst Kenneth M. Pollack wrote: "The shoot-down of Iran Air Flight 655 was an accident, but that is not how it was seen in Tehran."[64] Following the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 five months later, the United States government initially blamed the PFLP-GC, a Palestinian militant group backed by Syria, with assumptions of assistance from Iran in retaliation for Flight 655.[65] [66] The distrust generated between the U.S. and Iran as a result of the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 was a challenge in the development of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, which was agreed to on 14 July 2015.[67]
Despite the mistakes made in the downing of the plane, the crew of USS Vincennes were awarded Combat Action Ribbons for completion of their tours in a combat zone. The air warfare coordinator on duty received the Navy Commendation Medal, but The Washington Post reported in 1990 that the awards were for his entire tour from 1984 to 1988 and not for his actions relating to the surface engagement with Iranian gunboats.[68] In 1990, Rogers was awarded the Legion of Merit "for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer [...] from April 1987 to May 1989". The award was given for his service as the commanding officer of Vincennes from April 1987 to May 1989. The citation made no mention of the downing of Iran Air 655.[69] [70]
The events of Flight 655 were featured in "Mistaken Identity", a season 3 (2005) episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday (called Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the U.S., and Air Crash Investigation in the UK).
In Raymond Khoury's book The Templar Salvation the shooting down is the key motivation for the Iranian protagonist.
In Kaveh Akbar's debut novel Martyr! the shooting down is an important part of the protagonist's life and motivation.