Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled flight from Bandar Abbas to Dubai, flown by an Airbus A300, that was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz by missiles fired from the American cruiser USS Vincennes. All 290 people on board died. It happened during the final stage of the Iran–Iraq War, when the United States Navy was escorting Kuwaiti tankers in the Gulf, and the Vincennes had been engaged in a clash with Iranian gunboats. The crew, working in a tense and confusing situation, believed the aircraft was a hostile military jet descending to attack. The United States expressed regret and later paid compensation to the victims' families without admitting legal liability, while Iran has long regarded the act as deliberate or reckless.
Before and after
- 13 March 1988Construction of Seikan Tunnel
- 5 May 1988Birth of Adele
- 23 June 1988Creation of Mathematica
- 23 June 1988James Hansen tells the US Senate that global warming has begun
- 3 July 1988Iran Air Flight 655 shootdown
- from 16 August 1988 to 18 August 1988Gladbeck hostage crisis
- 21 August 1988Birth of Robert Lewandowski
- September 1988Publication of The Satanic Verses
- 15 October 1988Birth of Mesut Özil
More in Society, economy & sport
- 24 October 1945Founding of United Nations
- 5 October 1948Founding of International Union for Conservation of Nature
- 1960Founding of Somalia
- 1 October 1963Founding of Nigeria
- 1985Introduction of new shekel
- 2015Rise of Wikipedia Asian Month
The era
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