Commemorating the 37th anniversary of the tragic incident, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Farzaneh Sadegh, said in a message on Thursday, stressing that July 3 marks a bitter event that once again fully exposed the true face of the “global hegemonic and imperialist system.”
On July 3, 1988, the USS Vincennes fired missiles at an Iran Air Airbus A300B2, which was flying over the Strait of Hormuz from the port city of Bandar Abbas to Dubai, carrying 274 passengers and 16 crew members.
Following the attack, the plane disintegrated and crashed into the Persian Gulf waters, killing all 290 on board, among them 66 children.
“Thirty-seven years have passed since the dark day when the USS Vincennes warship fired on Iran Air Flight 655, killing 290 innocent men, women, and children. This horrific crime, a blatant example of state terrorism, is merely one link in the long chain of US actions against the Iranian nation, the latest of which was its support for the Zionist child-killing regime’s attack on our country’s national security and peaceful nuclear facilities,” Sadegh emphasized.
In the opening hours of June 13, the Israeli regime, supported by the United States, initiated an unprovoked attack on the Islamic Republic, killing several high-ranking military officials, scientists, and numerous civilians, including women and children.
More than a week later, the US chose to formally enter the conflict with direct intervention, as the Israeli regime was facing setbacks in the war.
In the early hours of June 22, the US launched unlawful strikes against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, in a clear violation of international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“From the assassination of nuclear scientists to the martyrdom of General Soleimani, from the unjust sanctions that target the lives of patients to the diplomatic pressure aimed at isolating Iran — all these actions are in blatant violation of international law and show that the US not only has no respect for the rights of the Iranian people but is also determined to obstruct our country's path to progress and development through various crises,” the Iranian transport minister added.
General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions were assassinated in a US drone strike authorized by then-US President Donald Trump near the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s International Airport on January 3, 2020.
Sadegh went on to say that among Washington’s futile schemes against Iran were undermining the power of the Islamic Republic in the region and the world as well as spreading despair among the Iranian nation.
These schemes and “goals have been thwarted time and again by the Iranian nation's resistance in the face of the country’s conspiracies under the most difficult circumstances. Sanctions, assassinations, diplomatic pressures, and even the 12-day war with the Zionist regime have not only failed to break us but have boosted our determination for progress and independence,” she stressed.
Addressing the tragic 1988 downing of the Iranian airliner once again, Sadegh added that “on the anniversary of this appalling crime, while honoring the memory of the martyrs of the ill-fated Iran Air flight, we express our disgust at the US’s brutal actions against Iran and once again vow to stand firm against the enemy’s bullying. With unity and vigilance, the Iranian people will overcome all obstacles and will not bow to US interference.”
US officials at the time claimed that the USS Vincennes had mistaken Iran Air Flight 655 for a warplane. This is while the warship was equipped with highly sophisticated radar systems and electronic battle gear at the time of the attack.
In 1990, the captain of the cruiser, William C. Rogers, was cleared of any wrongdoing, and was even awarded America’s Legion of Merit medal by then US president George Bush for his “outstanding service” during operations in the Persian Gulf.
(The article was origninally published on Presstv Website)