TEHRAN (Kayhan Intl.) -- For Iranians the U.S. harassment of a civilian airliner in Syria offered a grim echo of a shootdown by American forces over 30 years ago.
Iran said two U.S. fighter jets came close to the airliner, forcing its pilot to swiftly change altitude, a move that left several passengers injured.
The incident recalled the July 3, 1988 downing of Iran Air flight 655 by the U.S. Navy, which remains one of the moments the Iranians point to in their deep-seated distrust of America.
"It was a near miss,” Habib Abdolhussein, an Iranian doctoral student, told NBC News by telephone. "But there is no guarantee the passengers will be lucky next time and not share the fate of those aboard Flight 655,” he said.
The 1988 attack on the Iran Air flight came amid the so-called Tanker War that saw U.S. forces maraud shipping channels in the Persian Gulf as part of their support for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in his war on Iran.
The tactic is still deployed today by the Americans in the narrows of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes.
Part of a then twice-weekly route flown by the airline for over 20 years, Iran Air flight 655 took off from Bandar Abbas, Iran, heading for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
The USS Vincennes claimed it mistook the airliner for an Iranian F-14 fighter jet, despite having state-of-the-art combat equipment to distinguish it.
The Vincennes fired two missiles at the airplane, bringing it down and killing all 290 aboard, 66 of whom were infants and children.
Iran ultimately would sue the U.S., reaching a $131.8 million settlement, although USS Vincennes Capt. William C. Rogers
Iran said two U.S. fighter jets came close to the airliner, forcing its pilot to swiftly change altitude, a move that left several passengers injured.
The incident recalled the July 3, 1988 downing of Iran Air flight 655 by the U.S. Navy, which remains one of the moments the Iranians point to in their deep-seated distrust of America.
"It was a near miss,” Habib Abdolhussein, an Iranian doctoral student, told NBC News by telephone. "But there is no guarantee the passengers will be lucky next time and not share the fate of those aboard Flight 655,” he said.
The 1988 attack on the Iran Air flight came amid the so-called Tanker War that saw U.S. forces maraud shipping channels in the Persian Gulf as part of their support for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in his war on Iran.
The tactic is still deployed today by the Americans in the narrows of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes.
Part of a then twice-weekly route flown by the airline for over 20 years, Iran Air flight 655 took off from Bandar Abbas, Iran, heading for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
The USS Vincennes claimed it mistook the airliner for an Iranian F-14 fighter jet, despite having state-of-the-art combat equipment to distinguish it.
The Vincennes fired two missiles at the airplane, bringing it down and killing all 290 aboard, 66 of whom were infants and children.
Iran ultimately would sue the U.S., reaching a $131.8 million settlement, although USS Vincennes Capt. William C. Rogers
would later be given the Legion of Merit award, further angering Tehran. Pointing out that the flight was downed "towards the end of the Iran-Iraq War — when the Reagan administration supported Saddam who invaded Iran in 1980,” Arshin Adib-Moqaddam, a professor of global thought and comparative philosophies at SOAS University of London, told NBC News by email that it "continues to be a national trauma for many Iranians, and it is commemorated as such every year.” In the years since, Iranian television has aired live footage on the anniversary of mourners wailing from boats at the spot the plane went down, tossing flowers into the warm waters of the Persian Gulf. "I think it’s pretty clear that the Iranians believe that the United States does not care for the lives of innocent people,” Muhammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, told NBC News via text message, pointing to recent U.S. sanctions against Iran. The "threatening of a civilian airliner” would only increase the hostility of Iranians toward the U.S., similar to the anger felt in 1988, he said. "Even in this recent incident they (the U.S.) try to blame it on us,” he added. "That leads to the depth of this anger.” Iranian politicians have also complained about the incident. "Governmental terrorism of America is continuing on in the skies, land and sea,” Culture Minister Seyyed Abbas Salehi tweeted on Friday. While the Iranian president has yet to address the latest incident, he did reference Flight 655 after the U.S. assassinated prominent Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in January. Criticizing comments from U.S. President Donald Trump — who said if Iran retaliated for the assassination, U.S. forces had picked out 52 targets to be attacked in Iran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tweeted, "Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655.”
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