Iran Air Flight 655

- DATE
- July 3, 1988
- NAME
- Iran Air Flight 655
- AIRCRAFT
- Airbus A300B2-203
- ROUTE
- Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas, Iran
- LOCATION
- over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf
- SHOOTER
- U.S. Navy cruiser USS Vincennes fired two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles
- ALTITUDE
- climbing after takeoff towards 4,300 m
- DEATHS
- 290
The U.S. claimed the Vincennes crew, while in Iran's territorial waters, mistook the Airbus for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat fighter jet that was going to attack their ship. The incident occurred near the end of the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war in which the U.S. was supporting Iraq. The U.S. paid $61.8 million in compensation.