Iran Air Flight 655 was en-route from the Iranian capital Tehran to Dubai when the US Navy shot it down over Iran’s territorial waters on July 3, 1988, killing all 290 civilians on board, including at least 66 children.
The US hit the aircraft with two surface-to-air missiles fired by its Ticonderoga-class cruiser, the USS Vincennes, one of the warships Washington had sent to the Persian Gulf to help the former Iraqi regime which was at war with Iran back then.
At the time, Washington said that the Vincennes crew had mistakenly identified the Iranian civilian airliner with a military aircraft and that the warship had “acted in self-defense” as the plane was “descending” at a high speed.
Now, Declassified UK, a leading media organization uncovering UK foreign policy, has spoken of newly declassified files that reveal how the then British government led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher offered immediate support to the US, and assisted in the cover-up.
Declassified UK in its report speaks about a meeting that took place on March 2, 2000 between UK foreign secretary Robin Cook and US General Colin Powell who had served as President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Adviser between 1987 and 1989.
At that meeting, as the British media organization says, Powell recalled that Thatcher’s private secretary for foreign affairs “had rung immediately from Downing Street to ask what the Americans wanted the British Government to say” after Washington downed the airliner.
“Colin Powell remarked how America could count on no other government to behave like that,” said Declassified UK, which also cited quotes from Thatcher that showed how she stood with the US and defended its move to hit the civilian aircraft.
The UK also backed the US claim that “the USS Vincennes issued warnings to an approaching unidentified aircraft but received no response.”
In1996, eight years after the attack, the US government paid Iran $131.8 million in compensation for the attack, with then President Bill Clinton expressing deep regret over the incident.
But, the US never apologized for the tragedy that caused one of the deadliest air incidents in decades.
Instead, the USS Vincennes crew was awarded in 1990, with its captain William Rogers awarded as the Legion of Merit for what the US government described as exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service.
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