July 12th coincided with the anniversary of the missile attack of the American “Vincent” aggressor ship on the passenger plane of the Islamic Republic of Iran Airlines and the martyrdom of 290 of its innocent passengers.
In the “Airbus” disaster, which is considered one of the most important violations of human rights, international law and the rights of the International Aviation Organization in history, the commander of the “Vincens” ship was awarded a badge of merit for his crimes, and the loudest political circles in the West remained silent in front of this disaster, or They evaluated and analyzed it in the context of Pentagon fake news.
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America’s crime in the sky
On Sunday, July 12, 1367, at 10:47 in the morning, the “Airbus” airplane of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was supposed to travel the Tehran-Bandar Abbas-Dubai route, took off from the airport of this coastal city under the command of the Bandar Abbas air traffic control tower.
Seven minutes later, while almost a quarter of the short flight between Bandar Abbas and Dubai had been covered, a surface-to-air missile fired from an American ship destroyed the plane and 290 passengers and crew of that plane lost their lives. Among the plane passengers, 66 children under 13 years old, 53 women and 46 foreign nationals were also killed.
The severity and severity of the accident was such that for two days, the international media were in an unprecedented dizzying array of different information. In the meantime, one thing was clear: a passenger plane was targeted by a missile fired from an American cruiser, and this matter was confirmed by the world as an indescribable and unforgivable sin.
Flight review: The opinion of Iranian experts
The crew of “Iran Air” flight 655 assumed their duties while all of them, including Shahid “Mohsen Rezaian”, the pilot of the plane, had a valid international certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Standards and Inspection Department on behalf of the International Civil Aviation Organization. On the other hand, the Airbus plane had passed all the flight checks on time, so the flight crew and the plane were both in a suitable condition for flight. The air route Bandar Abbas – Dubai, which we are emphasizing here, takes about 30 minutes, or to be more precise, 28 minutes. This route is divided into three almost equal parts for ascent, linear flight and descent. Due to the fact that the plane was hit by a missile in the 8th minute of the flight, it is in a soaring state. In other words, the take-off and descent of the plane do not take place at the same time. Rather, each section of the height change depends on the height ceiling of the air corridor and the approval of the control tower in charge of the route.
Airbus Iran had chosen the Amber 59 corridor, which is actually the shortest route between Bandar Abbas and Dubai. The chosen route had seen about 180 flights in the week before the accident. Therefore, the Amber 59 air corridor can be considered as a high density and tested route. Amber 59’s flight ceiling is 14,000 feet, which can be used at a lower altitude – for example, 11,000 feet – according to suitable weather conditions – such as the day of the accident.
Since the entire route of Amber 59 is over the sea, a lower flight ceiling can be used with the approval of the watchtower. Amber 59 is divided halfway into two sub-routes, Amber 59 West, for Dubai and Amber 59 East, for Oman, while in fact the Airbus “Iran Air” had a long distance to the dividing point of the corridor and no route change was possible.
In the meantime, Iranian aviation experts place great emphasis on the safety of the aircraft. They say that the destroyed plane entered service on May 10, 1361 and had flown for 11,497 hours until the moment of the crash. One of the Iranian officials investigating the accident said against the American claim about the radio warning to Flight 655 that this warning was on the UHF band and on the 141.5 MHz band. Therefore, assuming such an action, both the Airbus plane and the Bandar Abbas control tower could not receive it.
Claims of American officials
The crash of the Iranian Airbus plane by the American cruiser has caused many questions about the capabilities of the “Agies” air defense missile system. The crash of the Iranian plane, which was moving on a planned flight path over the Persian Gulf, happened a few moments after gunboats opened fire on an American helicopter. In this missile attack, all 290 passengers and flight crew were killed, and this was while twelve hours after the attack, the officials of the US Ministry of Defense insisted on the destruction of an Iranian F-14 aircraft.
US naval commanders had received reports about Iran’s military presence in the region a few weeks ago. The same officials say that a number of F-14 planes have been transferred to Bandar Abbas Air Base, that is, the place where Flight 655 started. On this way, one day before the accident, an Iranian F-14 had received a radio warning from the Halsey ship.
A number of American officials involved in industrial and military issues ask how the F-14 can be considered a threat to the Vincennes.
The F-14 aircraft, which was delivered to Iran before the victory of the revolution, uses air-to-air weapons and limited ground attack capabilities. In a ground or surface attack mission, the aircraft’s weapons include a 20 mm M-61 cannon, with a number of unguided bombs. According to a statement from the officials of the US Ministry of Defense, Iranian planes can carry Harpoon anti-ship missiles, but Vincennes had not received any warning about missile firing.
“Aegis” system is also considered the most advanced radar system for detection and tracking in the whole world. In such a way that some military experts consider it to belong to the third world war. Despite all this, the world’s most modern radar system is not able to distinguish an Airbus from an F-14.
In other words, the only active decision-making system for defense is the “enemy from friend” system, so that the missile defense system can be activated in the event of unacceptable waves being emitted by a potential attacker.
While Senator Sam Nunn, chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, emphasized the possibility of failure of one of the Vincennes systems and said that in early June the AN/SPY-1 board radar suffered a partial failure, the US Navy announced that at the time Sending to the Persian Gulf, the mentioned defect has been fixed.
The Aegis system acts as a defensive shield for the defense of naval fleets and can detect and intercept several targets at the same time. The main purpose of sending the Vincennes to the Persian Gulf was to intercept and destroy the “Kerem Ahrisham” coastal missiles, so that the other fleets stationed in the region could not be harmed. Retired admiral Yochin Laroque from the Defense Intelligence Center also says, “Nau Vincennes should not have been sent to the Persian Gulf for operations.” We were not at war with Iran and there was no declaration of war between the two countries. The Iranian aircraft was in an international airspace over international waters, and the US had no right to declare it a war zone for any suspicious or non-suspicious aircraft, because it was not officially at war with Iran. There was no reason for the Iranian Airbus to respond to our warning messages.” David Evans, a military commentator of the Chicago Tribune, also believes that the detection and fire control system of the Vincennes was not on automatic control on the third day of July, and human error and misjudgment. caused the downing of the Iranian Airbus, and if the control was in automatic mode, there would be no reason for a mistake in identifying the plane and this human tragedy would not have occurred. According to Evans, holding a court-martial for Captain Rogers and his actions in the downing of a passenger jet with 290 innocent passengers was considered fair, but the United States, in front of the Iranians, awarded Rogers a medal at the end of his service, and none The crew of Vincennes were not prosecuted. The case of the aforementioned ship becomes more interesting when one of the experts of the US Navy examines the attack management system of Vincennes. He says: Aegis system automatically controls the entire process of identification until the attack, and there is only one exception in this way: this system is not able to distinguish enemy from friend automatically. In justifying the actions of Vincennes, Admiral Crow says: The Iranian Airbus was moving exactly in the direction of the ship and with a speed of 800 kilometers per hour, it was about 8 to 9.5 kilometers outside the international air corridor. But the information obtained by the Pentagon shows that the plane did not deviate. Amber route 59 is 200 km long and 35 km wide and Iran Airbus was attacked in the wider part of the corridor. According to these conflicting statements, the US Defense Ministry believes that the plane was attacked during the airspace.
Vincennes has issued seven warnings, three warnings to the commercial runway and 4 warnings to the military runway. While according to the same claim, 5 warnings have been issued from the neighboring ship Vincennes, i.e. “Sides”. The warning to the plane that is moving exactly on the international flight path is completely meaningless.
Also, the contradictory and flawed statements of the American authorities about the Airbus disaster faded when four years later, the “New York Times” newspaper, in a report containing several new points, said that the Vincennes was in the waters of the Iranian continental plateau, not in the international waters and the Pentagon. At that time, this truth was covered up. Admiral “William Crow”, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, later emphasized in an interview with the BBC: The Vincennes ship had come to the shore of Iranian waters without any clear reason despite having long-range cannons and missiles. America’s goal was not only to shoot down the Iranian Airbus plane, but also to force the Islamic Republic to accept peace and end the forced war. As Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States at the time, said in this regard: “This tragedy (the downing of an Iranian passenger plane by the United States) has doubled the necessity of achieving peace with maximum speed.”
After the downing of the Iranian Airbus, the leaders of the White House ridiculed the world opinion with their double behavior. On the other hand, Reagan, in a statement, expressing his regret for this bitter incident, admitted to the downing of the Iranian passenger plane, but considered the action of the American carrier as a defensive act and claimed that the Iranian Airbus plane was decreasing its altitude and diving towards It was an American ship.
The commander of the Vincennes ship, which caused the downing of the Iranian passenger plane, received a medal of honor and his crime was confirmed. This obvious contradiction exposed the hypocritical demagoguery of the American government and the sinister intentions of the leaders of this country to the world. Deception and criminality that has continued and is institutionalized in the essence of American governance.
The performance of the Security Council
Following this blatant aggression, the Islamic Republic of Iran sent a letter to the Chairman of the Security Council on July 14, 2017, requesting an urgent meeting of the Council to deal with the matter.
On July 35, 1367, according to July 16, 1988, the council held a meeting. On behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Velayati, the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, and George Bush, the Vice President of the United States, attended the meeting. The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran said in one of his words: The American military presence in the Persian Gulf has only heralded death, lawlessness and evil and has brought nothing but insecurity. America’s criminal act of attacking a country’s plane cannot be justified in any way in the form of legitimate defense. Resolution 616 of the Security Council (1988) after hearing the speeches of Dr. Velayati and George Bush in its meeting No. 3831 on July 30, 1988 (4/39/1367) approved the proposed resolution plan.
The text of the resolution is as follows: “The Security Council, by considering the letter dated July 5, 1988, addressed to the President of the Security Council by the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and by listening to the statements of the representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran (then Foreign Minister “Ali Akbar Velayati”) and the words of the representative of the United States of America (Deputy President George Bush, expressing deep regret that a civilian plane “Iran Air” was destroyed by a missile fired from the United States warship (Vincens) while flying over the Strait of Hormuz on scheduled international flight 655. It has been emphasized the necessity of clarifying the facts of the accident by an impartial inspection in the [Persian] Gulf region and announced its statements as follows: 1- He expresses his deep regret for the shooting down of an Iranian civilian plane by a missile fired from an American warship and his deep condolences for the tragic loss of innocent lives. 2- It expresses its sincere sympathy to the families of the victims of the tragic accident and their governments and countries. 3- It welcomes the decision of the International Civil Aviation Organization in response to the request of the Islamic Republic of Iran to establish a research group to investigate all the available facts, as well as the announcement of the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding their decision to cooperate with the investigation of the Civil Aviation Organization. 4- Requests all the members of the 1944 Chicago Convention to strictly observe the national aviation health regulations and procedures, especially the annexes of that convention, in order to prevent such incidents. 5- The need for the immediate and full implementation of Resolution 598 (1987), the Council as the only basis for a comprehensive, fair, honorable and sustainable solution to the conflict between Iran and Iraq, expressing its support to the Secretary General for the implementation of this resolution and obliging himself cooperates with the Secretary General to speed up the implementation of his executive plan.”
In addition to the Security Council and the ICAO Council, the Islamic Republic of Iran also filed its complaint in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The specialized element of the United Nations, namely ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), did not stay away from political issues, and instead of conducting a technical review and presenting a solution to the Security Council, it expressed its regret and condolences to the survivors of the accident.
May their souls be happy and may their memory be cherished.
