Timeline: The Troubled Story of Iran-US Relations

Timeline: The Troubled Story of Iran-US Relations

The Fiscal Times Staff  // 

The USS Vincennes Downs an Iranian Passenger Jet

In July, 1988, a surface to air missile fired from the USS Vincennes shot down a civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai while flying in Iranian airspace. All 290 people died. It was an error, complicated by never officially apologizing to Iran until 1996, when the U.S. paid $62 million to compensate the families of the victims.

Navy Camera