USS Vincennes Shoots Down Iran Air Flight 655, Killing 290 Civilians

A US Navy warship mistakenly fires a guided missile at an Iranian civilian Airbus, killing all 290 passengers and crew, becoming one of the most divisive incidents in the conflict.

On July 3, 1988, the USS Vincennes, a guided-missile cruiser operating in Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, fired two surface-to-air missiles at Iran Air Flight 655, a civilian Airbus A300 en route from Bandar Abbas to Dubai. All 290 people aboard were killed, including 66 children. The US military claimed the crew confused the civilian airliner with an Iranian F-14 fighter jet. The US eventually paid $61.8 million in compensation to the families of victims, but never formally apologized or accepted legal responsibility. The Iranian government, and much of the Muslim world, viewed the incident as deliberate or criminally negligent. For Iranians, the shooting down of Flight 655 became a defining symbol of American hostility toward their country.