As the relationship between US and Iran gets hostile and unfriendly especially amid attacks and retaliations from the respective countries, we need to remind ourselves that this hostility between the Arabians and Americans didn’t start today.
In 1988, Iran Flight 655 was shot down by a US missile thinking it was an Iranian F-14 Tomcat. All 290 passengers were killed. Shoddy reasons were given including human errors.
Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas, which was shot down on 3 July 1988 by a SM-2MR surface-to-air missile fired from USS Vincennes, a United States Navy guided-missile cruiser. The plane, an Airbus A300, was destroyed, killing all 290 people on board. The plane was struck while flying over the territorial waters of Iran in the Persian Gulf, shortly after departing from Bandar Abbas International Airport, the stopover place for the flight. After one of its helicopters received alarm fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits, Vincennes had reached Iranian territory. (more on Wikipedia
The United States admitted the mistake immediately and proceeded to settle Iran at the law court including financial compensations.
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Also Read: Ukrainian Plane Crash Victims: Who Were the Passengers?
“In 1996, military and government of the United States and Iran reached a settlement at the International Court of Justice which included the United States recognized the aerial incident of 3 July 1988 as a terrible human tragedy and expressed deep regret over the loss of lives caused by the incident.
As part of the settlement the United States agreed to pay US$61.8 million on an ex gratia basis in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims
In 2019, Iran, while responding to the killing of its General, Soleimani by the United States, they “mistakenly” shot down Ukraine airliner with all 176 passengers on board killed.
Initially, the Iranian government rejected it’s involvement in the Ukrainian crash and went ahead to refuse the release of the “Black Box” to Boeing, the plane manufacturer who is mandated by law to have access. In fact they refused to involve US or any third party in the crash probe
Before the request, investigators had already concluded that the Ukrainian Plane was shot down by the Iranian military.
What are we driving at with this article? The larger point is that the collateral damage arising from direct and indirect actions of these two countries are borne by ordinary people and that is just too much to bear. Civilians should stop defending such insensitive actions from either administration in the name of loyalty.
