A flight that never reached its destination

The Airbus, with 291 passengers and crew members on board, was about to take off from Bandar Abbas for Dubai. Most of the Iranian children who had spent summer vacations in Iran with their families were heading for the United Arab Emirates to join their fathers working in the UAE.

Captain Shadmehr announced the flight specifications: flight level: 14,000 feet, destination: Dubai, flight duration: one hour, number of passengers: 275.

While flying over the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran near the Iranian island of Hengam, some 150 miles from Bandar Abbas, the U.S. battleship Vincennes received a coded message from the Mission Command of the U.S. Fifth Navy in Manama.

The message was immediately delivered to Captain William Rogers, the commander of the Vincennes. The message read: “Shoot any Iranian airplane that is flying over the Persian Gulf waters.”

The Iranian Airbus that was flying in an air corridor formally scheduled and registered with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) announced its destination as Dubai International Airport.

All ships and oil tankers traveling in the Persian Gulf at the time received the message on their radio receivers. Up to then, no unusual movements were noticed in the Persian Gulf waters, and the Iranian airplane was flying in its predetermined corridor over the northern part of the Strait of Hormuz.

After receiving the ominous message from the commander in chief of the U.S. Fifth Navy in Manama, Captain Rogers ordered his crew to take their battle stations.

At the same time, on Iran Air Flight 655, the peace and silence was occasionally broken by the crying of infants held in the arms of their mothers.

It was 10:24 on the morning of July 3, 1988, when Captain Rogers gave the order to fire on the Iranian airplane.

Two missiles from the USS Vincennes were fired at the Iranian Airbus, and silenced the happy laughter of the little passengers of the airplane.

The missiles hit the plane’s fuselage and a few minutes later the dead bodies of 291 people, including 66 children under 12 years old, were scattered in the blue waters of the Persian Gulf.

Captain Rogers sent a message to the commander in chief of the U.S. Fifth Navy, saying: “The mission was successfully carried out.”

Rogers and the other Vincennes officers celebrated their victory in the inhumane mission. The Pentagon even recommended that then U.S. president Ronald Reagan award a medal to the captain of the Vincennes.

And so, on July 3, 1988, by slaughtering innocent Iranian women and children, the White House added another black blot to its shameful historical record.

The Islamic Republic of Iran referred the case to the United Nations Security Council. Unfortunately, the UN Security Council only issued UN Resolution 616, which merely expressed regret but refrained from condemning the United States.

For its part, the U.S. government refused to make any official apology to the Islamic Republic and only announced that it would pay compensation to the families of the victims.

On the 17th anniversary of that heartrending occasion, we hereby commemorate the memory of all the innocent victims and pray to God that He may eternally curse the criminal U.S. officials.

SA/HG

End

MNA