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Iran Air 655

Iran Air Flight 655
A300 Iran Air EP-IBT THR May 2010.jpg
A similar A300B2-200 registered EP-IBT
Shootdown summary
Date 3 July 1988
Summary Shot down by USS Vincennes
Site Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf
Passengers 274
Crew 16
Fatalities 290 (all)
Survivors 0
Aircraft type Airbus A300B2-203
Operator Iran Air
Registration EP-IBU
Flight origin Mehrabad International Airport
Tehran, Iran
Stopover Bandar Abbas Int'l Airport
Bandar Abbas, Iran
Destination Dubai International Airport
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Iran Air Flight 655 is an Iran Air passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai. On 3 July 1988, the aircraft operating on this route was shot down by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes under the command of William C. Rogers III. The incident took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight's usual flight path. The aircraft, an Airbus A300 B2-203, was destroyed by SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired from Vincennes. All 290 people on board died. The cruiser Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.

According to the United States government, the crew incorrectly identified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14A Tomcat fighter, a plane made in the United States and operated at that time by only two forces worldwide, the United States Navy and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. While the Iranian F-14s had been supplied by manufacturer Grumman in an air-to-air configuration only in the 1970s, the crew of Vincennes had been briefed when entering the region that the Iranian F-14s carried unguided bombs as well as Maverick missiles and unguided rockets. The Vincennes crew made ten attempts to contact the crew of the flight on military and civilian radio frequencies, but received no response. The International Civil Aviation Organization said that the flight crew should have been monitoring the civilian frequency.


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