`Those who mention the number 52 should also remember the number 290. Never threaten Iran,` Iranian President Hassan Rouhani wrote on Twitter on January 7, after US President Donald Trump threatened to attack 52 targets.
The White House boss said the 52 locations chosen by the US represent the 52 US citizens arrested in Iran in November 1979.
The hostage crisis is said to be the reason the US – Iran broke off diplomatic relations in 1980. The tense atmosphere lasted for many years afterward and led to a disaster in 1988, when the US cruiser USS Vincennes shot down the Airbus.
Debris of the Iran Air Airbus A300 shot down by the US in July 1988.
More than a year before the incident, the US Navy pledged to protect commercial ships moving through the Persian Gulf against the threat of `oil tanker war`, part of the 1980 to 1988 war between Iran and Iraq.
The military confrontation between Washington and Tehran in the region at that time was extremely intense.
The USS Vincennes cruiser was deployed by the US to the Gulf region to fill the gap caused by the lack of early warning aircraft, with a state-of-the-art Aegis combat system, under the command of naval colonel William C. Rogers III.
On July 3, 1988, Iran Air flight number 655 departed from Bandar Abbas city to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 10:47.
The flight departed 27 minutes later than planned and was expected to last 28 minutes.
On that fateful morning, the USS Vincennes moved near Iranian territorial waters while pursuing an Iranian speedboat.
According to a US Navy report, if this aircraft carried Maverick missiles, Captain Rogers would have less than 5 minutes to determine whether his ship was in danger or not.
USS Vincennes launched two SM-2MR anti-aircraft missiles at 10:54 a.m., one of which hit an Iran Air plane and broke up in the air, killing all 290 people, including 66 children.
Immediately after the incident, US officials accused the Airbus A300 of continuously lowering altitude and flying off course towards the USS Vincennes.
Expected flight path and location of the A300 that was shot down.
However, some independent investigators have accused the Pentagon of covering up the incident.
Iran also believes that the USS Vincennes intentionally attacked the A300 and sued the US to the International Court of Justice.
Flight PS752 of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) on January 8 crashed and caught fire on the outskirts of Tehran shortly after departing for Kiev, killing 176 people.
Hours before the accident, Iran launched dozens of missiles at two US bases in Iraq in retaliation for General Soleimani.
`Someone may have made a mistake. I have some doubts,` US President Donald Trump mentioned about the plane crash.
