Souls of Flight 655 passengers crying for justice against US terrorism

Iran and the Iranian people continue to be the victims of US terrorism which over the past forty years has assumed different shapes, such as political, economic, cultural, media, military and etc.

But this kind of terrorism has failed to make a dent in the determination of the Islamic Republic, which today on the fateful 3rd of July commemorates the criminal downing of Iran Air Flight 655 with 297 passengers on board, at a time when Washington is again playing with fire in our region by violating Iran’s airspace and sabotaging oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

Now we have a special feature on the 31st anniversary of American missile attack on Iran’s Airbus-300.

Today is the tragic 3rd of July on which exactly 31 years ago the regular three-days-a-week Bandar Abbas-Dubai, Iran Air Flight 655 suddenly found its course changed in midair and was deflected off its destination, which it never reached – not by any technical error or misjudgment by its pilot, but by the state terrorism of the United States of America.

Although the Airbus-300 splintered on contact with two heat-seeking missiles fired by the USS Vincennes and crashed into the waters of the Persian Gulf along with the bodies of the 297 men, women, children, and babes on board, the flight together with the souls of its passengers, gently alighted at the gates of Paradise.

The passengers aboard achieved immortal martyrdom, but like all martyrs, they were the victims of brutal and bestial persons devoid of any conscience and humanitarian sentiments.

The tragedy is that the terrorist who ordered the firing of the missiles, Captain Will Rogers, was later awarded a medal of honour for his cowardly act by the US regime.

Commander Lustig, the air-warfare coordinator, even won the US navy's Commendation Medal for what the criminals in the White House shamelessly called “heroic achievement,” lauding his “ability in quickly and precisely complete the firing procedure” on a large passenger aircraft gently ascending its commercial air corridor.

As usual, the Americans, who have no inhibitions in shedding innocent blood, lied and frequently changed their statements. It means that the present incumbent in the White House, Donald Trump, is not the first US president to utter lies in public, but the most notorious of all liars as is evident from his denial of facts, blaming of others for Washington’s crimes, and constant dodging of truth, whether concerning Iran’s peaceful nuclear project, whether the attack by CENTCOM terrorists on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, and whether the violation of Iran’s airspace by a highly sophisticated American spy drone that met its deserving fate by being brought down in Iranian waters by Iran’s ever-vigilant defence personnel.

In July 1988, after having criminally downed the Iranian passenger plane, the chief liar of those days, Ronald Reagan and his administration of liars, initially claimed to have targeted what they called "an aggressive Iranian jet fighter coming in at the USS Vincennes. Then they called it a case of mistaken identity by their radars that are supposed to detect even the minutest details of all flying objects. Then they denied that the American warship had entered Iranian waters for carrying out this act of state terrorism.

Whatever Washington has said over the past three decades, including its sheepish admission that its sophisticated vessel had indeed entered Iranian territorial waters and positioned itself in advance under the arc of the regular commercial flight with the intention of shooting it down, it has yet to offer an official apology to the Iranian nation and the government for its unpardonable crime against humanity.

Not that the Islamic Republic expects the Great Satan to drop its hostility towards the Iranian people who have been the targets of US state terrorism ever since the coup 66 years ago in 1953 to reinstall the fugitive Pahlavi potentate.

The Muslim people of Iran, whose grassroots Islamic movement ended in 1979, once and for all, the US stranglehold on their homeland, very well know the devilish designs of the regimes that march in and out of the White House.

Iran, which for the past 40 years has successfully made all American plans go awry, thanks to its firm faith in God Almighty, is determined to defeat every sinister move made by Uncle Sam and its surrogates in the region, as it marches steadfastly towards the pinnacles of progress in various scientific and technological fields, in the face of the futile sanctions by the present thuggish administration of Donald Trump, which has resorted to economic terrorism against the Iranian people

Islamic Iran is confident of the ultimate victory and the evaporation of the inflated power of the super-terrorist called the US, as was the case with Saddam and the Ba'th minority regime in neighbouring Iraq, on whose side the Americans had blatantly interfered during in the closing days of the 8-year imposed war by scuttling the merchant vessel "Iran Ajor", attacking Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf, and finally criminally downing the Iranian passenger plane.

Today, it is clear that despite its military misadventures in the region, the brutalities of the Zionist usurper regime against the sons of the soil, the Palestinians, and the bloodbath unleashed in Yemen by its other terrorist proxy Saudi Arabia, Washington has achieved nothing but disgrace and humiliation, thanks to the inspiration the people of the region draw from the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

 It is obvious that it is Right that eventually triumphs over Brutal and Deceitful Might. On the eve of July 4, which today's illegally expanded USA celebrates as the Day of Declaration of Independence from the British for the 13 rebellious colonies that made up the New England States, the Free World very well knows that July 3 is the Day of Eternal Shame for the US.

There is still one last chance for the Donald Trump Administration to contemplate on the crimes of his predecessors and offer apology to Iran and the Iranian people before it is too late. Another blundering move by him on the pattern of his predecessors and he would be presiding over the ignominious end of the US – history's most evil power.

The souls of the passengers of Flight 655 are watching from the Divine Court of Justice the unfolding drama on Planet Earth, where unfortunately, the United Nations, especially its affiliate the International War Crimes Tribunal, has practically done nothing to put the US and the gangs of criminals that rule it, in the dock.

Airbus Anniversary Revives Memories of US’ Inherent Terrorism

By: Kayhan Int’l 

     The fateful 3rd of July is here again to remind us of the terrorist nature of the US, which on this day in 1988 unmanly downed an Iranian passenger plane within Iran’s marine borders and then lied to the whole world that the USS Vincennes had to fire missiles ‘in self-defence at a menacingly approaching Iranian fighter plane in the international waters of the Persian Gulf.’

As navy personnel of an aggrieved and oppressed nation pulled out the debris of the Airbus-300 off the coast of Iran’s Hengam Island, along with dismembered bodies of many of the 290 passengers, including 66 children on board Iran Air Flight 655, the civilized world was shocked at the barbarity of the US and its preposterous lies of targeting a military aircraft and that too in international waters.

It took several years for the US to sheepishly admit that the Vincennes had indeed ventured into Iranian waters following orders from the top in Washington to test the viability of its newly-installed Aegis system, and had deliberately blasted in midair the three-times-a-week Bandar Abbas-Dubai flight as it ascended its regular passenger air corridor at 10:17 hours local time.  

The Islamic Republic was then involved in the 8-year war imposed by the US through Saddam of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad and the attack was designed to distract the Iranian nation’s attention from the Holy Defence at the frontiers with Iraq, an undeniable act of state terrorism that made the then Iranian President and currently the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, dub Ronald Reagan and his team of rogues "an administration of criminals and murderers”.

And also liars, of course, which means the present incumbent in the White House, Donald Trump, is not the first US president to utter lies in public, but the most notorious of all liars as is evident from his denial of facts, blaming of others for Washington’s unabated crimes against humanity, and constant dodging of truth, whether concerning Iran’s IAEA-confirmed peaceful nuclear project, whether the attacks by CENTCOM terrorists on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last May and June, or whether violation of Iran’s airspace by a highly sophisticated American spy drone that met its deserving fate by being brought down in Iranian waters by Iran’s ever-vigilant defence personnel.

Thirty-One years have passed since the dastardly downing of the Iranian Airbus and no apology has yet been tendered by the US – not that the Islamic Republic expects the ‘Great Satan’ to mend its wicked ways and behave like a normal state.

The truth is that, Iran and the Iranian people continue to be the victims of US terrorism, which over the past forty years has assumed different shapes, such as political, economic, cultural, media, military and etc., but has failed to make a dent in the determination of the Islamic Republic, which has rightly rejected Trump’s theatrical tweets – interspersed with threats – of renegotiating the international nuclear deal JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action) which he blatantly breached last year and has since pursued the policy of economic terrorism.

Washington is again playing with fire in our region by violating Iran’s airspace and sabotaging merchant shipping in a futile bid to pressure the Islamic Republic, oblivious of the fact that there is no escape for the US merchants of death from the flames they have kindled and which will burn them both in this world and in the Eternal Inferno.

Today, as we pay homage to the Airbus Martyrs, whose souls are crying for justice, it is clear that Washington, despite its military misadventures in the region, coupled with the brutalities of the Zionist usurper regime against the sons of the soil, the Palestinians, and the bloodbath unleashed in Yemen by its other terrorist proxy Saudi Arabia, has achieved nothing but disgrace and humiliation, thanks to the inspiration the people of the region draw from the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

There is still one last chance left for Donald the Dotard to contemplate on the crimes of his predecessors, offer apology to Iran and the Iranian people, rejoin JCPOA before it is too late and end his illegal economic sanctions.
Don’t doubt Iran’s resolve and prowess. Another blundering move by him on the pattern of his predecessors and he would be presiding over the ignominious end of the US – history’s most evil power. 

Wait and contemplate for a second

By Mohammad Ghaderi 

TEHRAN – Like it or not, the story of liberal democracy in the West has often been unjust and inhumane. You haven’t made a mistake if you call it “no human rights.”

However, this time the self-proclaimed defenders of human rights have created a commotion over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a loyalist to the West. If Khashoggi was not a devotee to the West, his murder was put into oblivion like thousands of innocent men, women and children in today’s Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, and Kashmir.

Shouldn’t all people be the equally protected or perpetrators of carnage held accountable before the laws of man? What is the difference between the killing of Sheikh Nimr, Saleh Sammad, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, Emad and Jihad Mughniyah, Hassan Shehtah, Mustafa Badr al-Din, Samir Qnatar, Fathi Shaghaghi. These prominent figures died amid deafening silence.

One answer lies in the nature and ideology of liberal democracy that theorizes about individualism and tribalism, from Machiavelli to Hobbes to Theodor Herzl, that extols human societies in contradiction to the creator’s command for justice and accord. Human rights assertions are largely in sham in too many places globally.

If assassination and slaughter is considered a crime, and if your conscious is no longer at ease and you feel disgusted by, for example, the story of Khashoggi’s murder, be aware that this is your own doing, too. You pick puppets to rule over your lands, scare people off Islamic virtues and create Islamophobia and back the terrorist Wahhabis.

Iranian rocketry exists only to try to defend Iran and the oppressed against the brutality of tyrants. Have the followers of true Islam led by Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) ever started war on each other?

If you want to know the truth about the obscene application of power and militancy you can study the honest narratives of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Vietnam, Palestine, Iran Air Flight 655, the Balkans, and the war on Yemen, among other atrocities.

July 3 Marks 30th Anniversary of US War Crime by Shooting Iran Air Passenger Plane

To understand why the people and leadership of Iran distrust the US, one only has to recall the US’ deliberate shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane on July 3, 1988 in the Persian Gulf. Iran Air Flight 655 had just taken off from Bandar Abbas International Airport and was heading to Dubai. There were 274 passengers and 16 crew members on board. The passengers included 66 children. Also on board was Mahliqa Qurai, a leading Iranian writer and intellectual. The plane was still flying over Iranian territorial waters and climbing toward its cruising altitude when it was blown up in the sky. In the waters of the Persian Gulf below, a US Navy guided-missile cruiser, the USS Vincennes fired two missiles at the plane destroying it instantly. All 290 members on board were killed. Each year, Iran marks the anniversary of the downing of its civilian aircraft. Today was no exception and reinforced the Iranians’ belief that the US is their implacable enemy. Just as it destroyed a harmless civilian passenger plane, the US would like to destroy the Islamic Republic. The Great Satan, as Imam Khomeini described the US, makes no secret of its hostile intentions toward the Islamic Republic. American officials—Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Nikki Hailey and others—have openly declared their intention to overthrow the legitimate Islamic system of governance in Iran. In 1988, as soon as it became apparent that the US had shot down a civilian passenger plane over Iranian territorial waters, American officials began a campaign of disinformation and obfuscation. No less a person than US Secretary of Defence (Offense) Casper Weinberger pulled out maps to show the plane was shot down over international waters and that it was threatening the USS Vincennes in the waters below. Weinberger also alleged that the Vincennes’ radar showed a plane descending toward the navy cruiser. The American official was lying. First, he brought out a map that had deliberately omitted an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf that put the plane clearly in Iran’s territorial waters. Second, the plane was ascending (climbing), not descending. It was a passenger plane, not the much smaller F-14 fighter plane as the Americans alleged at the time. Decades later, the Americans still peddle the fiction that the shooting down of the civilian passenger plane was a “mistake”. “The shoot-down of Iran Air flight 655 was an accident, but that is not how it was seen in Tehran,” former CIA analyst and current Brookings scholar Kenneth Pollack wrote in his 2004 history of US-Iran enmity, "The Persian Puzzle." If it was an “accident”, what explanation is there for the US to award the second highest naval medal, Legion of Merit, to Vincennes commander, Will Rogers? Then US President George H. W. Bush said Rogers was awarded the medal for “outstanding service” during operations in the Persian Gulf! Blowing up a civilian airliner and killing 290 passengers on board would hardly constitute “outstanding service” unless one happens to be an American and a war criminal. Blowing up Iran Air Flight 655 killing 290 passengers on board is a war crime. It also encapsulates America’s hostility toward the Islamic Republic. Without acknowledging and making amends for this crime, there is be no possibility that the two can have “normal” relations. US crimes against Iran date back to the CIA-MI6 engineered coup against the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mussadegh in August 1953. That coup ushered in the most horrific period of torture and killings in Iranian history. The Americans also continue to embrace the terrorist group, the Mujahideen-e Khalq organization, better known as munafiqeen in Iran. There is no end to American wickedness and criminality when it comes to dealing with other countries. -Crescent International