Press TV - Iran is commemorating the 29th anniversary of the downing of its passenger plane by a US Navy guided-missile cruiser in Persian Gulf waters in 1988.
The civilian aircraft, an Airbus A300B2, was flying in Iranian airspace over the Strait of Hormuz from the port city of Bandar Abbas to Dubai, carrying 274 passengers and 16 crewmembers on July 3, 1988, when the cruiser, USS Vincennes fired two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles at it.
One of the missiles hit the plane, killing all the 290 onboard.
On Monday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement to recall the tragic deaths and once again censure the US Navys horrific crime.
A look at the precedence of the USs inhumane behavior, which is manifested in massacring innocent people across the world, including the aggrieved people of Iran, indicates that such anattitude has been institutionalized in various US governments in pursuit of their own goals, said the statement.
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The file picture shows a survivor holding up a picture of a victims of USS Vincennes downing of an Iranian passenger plane on July 3, 1988.[/caption]US officials claimed the warship had mistaken Iran Air Flight 655for a warplane. This is while the warship was equipped with highly sophisticated radar systems and electronic battle gear at the time of the attack.
A year later, the captain of the USS Vincennes, William C. Rogers, was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident, and was even awarded Americas Legion of Merit medal by the then US president, George Bush, for his outstanding service.
The atrocity especially stoked anti-American sentiment as it coincided with the final year of the former Iraqi regimes eight-year war, which had been waged against Iran with Washingtons all-out political and material support.
The statement added that the Iranian people blame those ordering and perpetrating the atrocity for committing crimes under the guise of supporting human rights.
The Islamic Republic wants all those behind the tragedy to be held accountable for the crime, said the statement, adding that the Iranian nation will never forgive the perpetrators.
