Iran Air Flight 655 was a commercial flight shot down by the United States Navy in 1988. This article is written in memory of those lost on board. Originally published in Jetstream Magazine by Hadi Ahmad.

What would have otherwise been a routine passenger flight across the Strait of Hormuz culminated in a heartbreaking tragedy, all because of a costly system misunderstanding by an external party. This is the tragic story of Iran Air Flight 655.

Flight 655: A Scheduled Service

Iran Air Flight 655 was a twice-weekly scheduled service from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas. The flight's first segment departed from Tehran Mehrabad Airport (THR) towards Bandar Abbas (BND), a port city in the south of Iran.

Flight 655 was operated by a six-year-old Airbus A300, registered EP-IBU. This airframe was delivered brand-new to Iran Air in April 1982. At that time, Iran’s aviation industry was in a vastly different state than it is today. With the absence of heavy sanctions, Iranian airlines could take delivery of new Western-built aircraft. This saw Iran Air buying aircraft such as the Airbus A300 and Boeing 747s directly from the manufacturers.

Although the Airbus A300 is fully capable of flying two hours nonstop from Tehran to Dubai, the stop in Bandar Abbas was likely intended to pick up additional passengers. However, there is no official explanation for this.

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