Tehran Condemns Continued US Aggression on 37th Anniv. of Iran Air 655 Attack
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - On the 37th anniversary of the US Navy’s downing of Iran Air Flight 655, Iranians commemorated the victims and denounced the United States’ ongoing crimes against the Iranian people and the wider region.
Every year on July 3, the skies above the Persian Gulf darken with grief as Iranians remember the 1988 missile attack on Iran Air Flight 655 by a US Navy warship.
On Thursday, residents of Qeshm Island gathered once again to honor the lives lost in what remains one of the deadliest attacks on a civilian airliner.
The Airbus A300, en route from Bandar Abbas to Dubai, was carrying 298 passengers and crew—men, women, and children—when it was struck by missiles fired from the USS Vincennes.
All aboard were killed in the incident, which Tehran and many international observers have long described as a deliberate attack rather than a tragic error.
“This was not a mistake; it was a crime,” said one participant in Thursday’s memorial.
Iranian officials and mourners described the attack as a clear example of American brutality under the guise of defending human rights.
The tragedy is not an isolated event in US policy toward Iran and the region, Iranian authorities said.
They cited American support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran–Iraq war, including the supply of chemical weapons, and Washington’s role in fueling instability across the Middle East.
From backing terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS to turning a blind eye to civilian casualties in Yemen and Iraq, the US has shown a consistent pattern of violating international norms, Iranian commentators argued.
In recent months, tensions have again escalated.
Iran accused the United States of aiding Israel in deadly strikes on Iranian territory, including attacks that resulted in the martyrdom of civilians and targeted peaceful nuclear facilities.
“These acts prove once again the hostility of America toward the Iranian nation,” one official said at the ceremony. On Thursday, residents of Hormozgan province formed a human chain along the coastline of the Persian Gulf.
They called for justice for the victims of Flight 655 and expressed solidarity with oppressed peoples around the world, particularly Palestinians.
Chanting slogans against the United States and Israel, demonstrators vowed to resist all forms of aggression and defend their nation’s sovereignty.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will always stand on the side of truth and justice,” said a local organizer.
“Our defense is a legitimate right, and while we will never initiate aggression, we will never submit to it either.”
