“I will never apologize for the United States — I don’t care what the facts are… I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy.”

George H. W. Bush
August 7 1988

July 3 2019 — On July 3 1988, Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by a missile cruiser fired from the USS Vincennes under the command of William C. Rogers III. The shoot-down of Iran Air flight 655 may have been an “accident”, but Tehran saw it otherwise. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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“The purpose of intelligence is not to tell you what happened, but to tell you what is going to happen — and sometimes the most important information is what you fail to find.”

William Colby
CIA Director

UPDATE (July 3, 2025) — FBI Feared Iranian Retaliation After Flight 655 — But Found No Evidence

Following the tragic downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by the U.S. Navy’s USS Vincennes on July 3, 1988, which killed 290 civilians, the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies prepared for the possibility of Iranian retaliation.

Internal FBI memos warned of a high likelihood of revenge attacks targeting American interests — including terrorist strikes against embassies, hijackings, or bombings designed to mirror the downed airliner.

In response, FBI field offices across the United States were instructed to intensify surveillance of Iranian nationals, political groups, student organizations, and religious centers. Intelligence gathered domestically was shared with military and diplomatic posts worldwide to guard against possible reprisals. This effort reflected a widespread fear within U.S. agencies of an “eye for an eye” response.

However, despite these precautions, no credible evidence of any planned or executed retaliation ever surfaced.

A crucial factor in this intelligence outcome was the United States’ secret control of CRYPTO AG, a Swiss encryption firm whose devices were used by Iran and many other governments to secure diplomatic and military communications. This covert advantage allowed American and allied intelligence services to read Tehran’s encrypted messages in near real-time.

Despite the Hans Bühler affair in 1983, when the Swiss Crypto AG engineer was arrested by Iranian authorities on espionage charges, Tehran continued to use Crypto AG encryption devices for many years afterward. Unaware that the company was secretly controlled by Western intelligence agencies, Iran maintained reliance on Crypto AG machines well into the late 1990s and early 2000s, only beginning to phase them out as suspicions grew and alternative encryption technologies became available.

Yet, even with this unparalleled access to Iranian communications, U.S. agencies never intercepted any credible plans or orders for revenge attacks linked to Flight 655.

One of the most persistent theories has been that the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988 was Iran’s covert retaliation. Early suspicions initially pointed towards Iran-backed groups like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC).

US and UK investigators have tied Lockerbie to Libya rather than Iran. However, while the trial of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi produced a conviction, it has long been viewed as deeply flawed, even by legal experts, members of the Scottish legal system, and some victims’ families.

What remains undisputed is the absence of any signal intelligence (SIGINT) intercepts linking Tehran to the Lockerbie attack. Given the compromised encryption systems and extensive surveillance, it is highly unlikely that Iranian involvement could have gone undetected if it had existed.

While the FBI and broader U.S. intelligence community genuinely feared and prepared for Iranian retaliation after Flight 655, the available evidence — including the silence from Tehran’s communications — indicates no direct revenge was planned or carried out. This gap between expectation and reality remains a critical, often overlooked aspect of the post-Flight 655 saga.

END of UPDATE

“The accident [aka the killing all 290 civilians on board IR 655] seems at least to have helped bring home to the Iranian leadership the urgent need for an end to the Gulf conflict”.
Lady Thatcher — private correspondence with Ronald Reagan

UPDATE (August 18 2022) — Margaret Thatcher knew the truth from the start… and assisted in the cover-up.

Just a reminder… Authority is no source for Truth. [Aristotle]

On 2 March 2000, UK foreign secretary Robin Cook met with US General Colin Powell, who had served as Ronald Reagan’s National Security Adviser between 1987 and 1989. 

Powell “spoke frankly” throughout the discussion, leading Cook to request that the US General’s “confidence… be strictly protected”.

In particular, Powell recalled that, after the US shot down Flight 655, Thatcher’s private secretary for foreign affairs Charles Powell “had rung immediately from Downing Street to ask what the Americans wanted the British Government to say”.

The British government thus offered immediate support to the US, despite it having killed hundreds of civilians, most of whom were Iranian citizens.

To this end, Colin Powell remarked how “America could count on no other government to behave like that”.

Thatcher stood out as Reagan’s staunchest defender. “You cannot put navies into the gulf to defend shipping from [Iranian] attack without giving them the right to defend themselves”, she declared. [Declassified UK]

To this day, the US government has not yet apologized for the attack. Moreover, the captain of USS Vincennes was awarded the Legion of Merit for “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service”.

John McEvoy ends his piece [BRITAIN ‘IMMEDIATELY’ SUPPORTED U.S. OVER SHOOTING DOWN OF IRANIAN AIRLINER] with the following paragraph.

“Some believe Iran paid terrorist groups to bring down an American airliner in retaliation. Five months after the crash, Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland, killing 270 people.”

Allow me to repeat…

First, there is no truth whatsoever to these Iranian payments. This is simply a piece of disinformation. Although the CIA and the DIA have often claimed to have evidence of such ‘payment’, a quick look at the source document will easily convince you that this legend was built around a suspicious transaction that has nothing to do with the Lockerbie tragedy. The SCCRC came to the same conclusion. Although Richard Marquise (FBI) is not willing to discuss the issue (the information is still classified), I believe that he agrees with my findings.

RELATED POST: On This Day — The Lockerbie DIA Memo (September 24 1989) [The Legend of The Iranian Payment]

Second, the issue of IR 655 was settled during a series of secret Meetings in Switzerland. In late August 1988, a meeting between US citizen Richard Lawless and Iranian negotiators took place at Glyon, near Montreux, Switzerland. At least, two other meetings occurred in September and a fourth meeting took place in early October 1988.

RELATED POST : Lockerbie – Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…! [Chapter II : The Usual Suspects]

And last but not least, I convinced that there was no bomb aboard Pan Am 103.

RELATED POST : One Year Ago — Lockerbie : Why I ruled out the bomb theory [Technical Analysis of the Debris Lines]

Pan Am Flight 103 disintegrated in flight over Lockerbie because of a massive structural failure due to well-known issues of metal fatigue in section 41 and 42 of the Boeing 747 (Series 100 & 200), not because of an explosive device. The pieces of the aircraft recovered near Torbeckhill almost certainly explained what caused the tragic chain of events.

Why the secrecy? On July 24 2018, the UK National Archives released files from the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office predominantly covering the year of 1993. A Lockerbie file dated 1992-93 was however withheld.

Two years before, on November 2 2016, the UK Government [Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)] decided to withhold all Lockerbie air accident investigation reports [dating from 1990 Jan 01 to 1992 Dec 31] until at least 2026, and possibly indefinitely.

Why on earth?

Why on earth would the UK Government decide to withhold these technical reports if they did not reveal foul play or gross incompetence?

If ever released, these reports will show that the AAIB investigators knew all along that there was no bomb on Pan Am Flight 103, and that they knew the real cause of the tragedy long before the crash even happened.

END of UPDATE

“The shoot-down of Iran Air flight 655 was an accident, but that is not how it was seen in Tehran.”
Former CIA analyst Kenneth M. Pollack

UPDATE (July 3 2021) — A memorial ceremony was held today on the tragedy’s anniversary, with the participants, including the families of the victims and local officials, tossing flowers into the waters of Hormozgan Province near Hengam Island.

Western media are rather quite on the anniversary of the tragedy. This is hardly surprising.

END of UPDATE

“In 1990, the captain of the cruiser, William C. Rogers, was cleared of any wrongdoing and was even awarded the America’s Legion of Merit medal by then US president George Bush for his ‘outstanding service’ during operations in the Persian Gulf.”
MEHR News Agency (July 3 2021)

July 3 1988 – Iran Flight 655

Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai.

The aircraft operating on this route was shot down by a missile cruiser fired from the 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.  All 290 people on board died.

The U.S. government issued notes of regret for the loss of human lives, but never apologized or acknowledged wrongdoing.

George H. W. Bush, the vice president of the United States at the time commented on a separate occasion, speaking to a group of Republican ethnic leaders (7 Aug 1988) said: “I will never apologize for the United States — I don’t care what the facts are… I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy.”

According to the Iranian government, Vincennes negligently shot down the civilian aircraft: the airliner was making IFF squawks in Mode III (not Mode II used by Iranian military planes), a signal that identified it as a civilian craft.

The event generated a great deal of criticism of the United States. Some analysts blamed the captain of Vincennes, who had entered Iran’s waters, for reckless and aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment.

Iran Air continues to use flight number 655 on the Tehran to Dubai route as a memorial to the victims. This event ranks among the deadliest disasters in aviation history.

Former CIA analyst Kenneth M. Pollack wrote:

“The shoot-down of Iran Air flight 655 was an accident, but that is not how it was seen in Tehran.”

Following the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 five months later (December 21 1988), the British and American governments initially blamed the PFLP-GC — a Palestinian militant group backed by Syria — with assumptions of assistance from Iran in retaliation for Iran Air Flight 655.

To this day, some experts still believe that the two tragedies may very well be linked.

***** Lockerbie – Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…! *****

QUICK NOTE — To make it easier for the readers to retrieve various chapters of this book, I have created a special page “Lockerbie” where all the links to the chapters will be listed with a brief description. You can access that page directly as it appears at the far right of the top bar of this blog. END of NOTE

***** Lockerbie – Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…! *****

Is there any evidence linking Tehran to Lockerbie?

It has long been reported that Iran wired a large sum of money to Ahmed Jibril’s PFLP-GC in the days following the Lockerbie bombing.

This would be rather convincing as circumstantial evidence if it was not for the fact that this allegation has been fabricated… There is no truth to it. It is disinformation.

Over the last two decades, I have investigated the Lockerbie Case. Among other things, I managed to tracked the so-called Iran payment, and I can state with confidence that this transaction has nothing to do whatsoever with Lockerbie.

RELATED POST: Lockerbie — “Till Truth Do Us Part” [The Legend of the Iranian Payment]

I was also able to uncover the origin of the  infamous “fifth device” fairy tale. There is no doubt that this story was fabricated by a crackpot and published by an irresponsible journalist.

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Let me make this point very clear. There is not a shred of evidence that Iran ordered the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie as an act of retaliation for Iran Air 655.

And there is a good reason for that which I have revealed in my book. [Stay tuned for additional technical information….]

PS — In the aftermath of Flight 655 disaster, the US and Iran conducted a series of secret talks in the city of Montreux, Switzerland.  Richard Lawless was representing Bush and Abolghasem Mesbahi was an envoy of Rafsanjani.

By the end of September 1988 — 3 months before Lockerbie — they managed to settle an agreement. None of this has ever been made public for obvious reasons. It would have been perceived as a second Iran-Gate scandal.

USS Vincennes Shot Down Iran Air Flight 655 – 1988 | Today In History | 3 July 1988

REFERENCES

Iran Air Flight 655 — Wikipedia

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Remembering Iran Flight 655 (July 3 1988)

On This Day — Remembering Iran Flight 655 (July 3 1988) [2021]

On This Day — Remembering Iran Flight 655 (July 3 1988) [UPDATE : Margaret Thatcher knew the truth from the start… and assisted in the cover-up.]