TEHRAN, July 3, YJC - Commemorating the 29th anniversary of the US criminal act of hitting and downing Iranian passenger plane, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign affairs stated that murdering innocent people throughout the world is an indication of the fact that anti-human behaviors have been established in the US governments.
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TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The Ministry of Foreign affairs, therefore, issued an statement. The statement condemns the inhuman and cowardly act of US’s warship hitting Iranian Airbus passenger plane amid sky in 1988.
The statement also honored the memories of the martyred passengers who were killed by the US horrific crime.
The statement says, “a look at the background of the US’s inhumane behaviors, manifested in murdering innocent people of the world, including the aggrieved people of Iran, is indicative of the fact that such inhumane behaviors have been institutionalized in different governments of US in perusing their goals”.
“The Iranian nation knows the perpetrators of this catastrophe as irrational claimants who commit crime under the cover of Human Rights and defending nations, while they must responsible for their inhumane behaviors” the statement said.
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 USS Vincennes fired two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles at it.
US officials claimed the warship had mistaken Iran Air Flight 655 for 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 America’s Legion of Merit medal by then 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 regime’s eight-year war, which had been waged against Iran with Washington’s all-out political and material support.
The statement added that the Iranian people hold to account the so-called advocates of human rights for ordering and perpetrating this atrocity, and for committing crimes and inhumane acts.
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.”