Iranians Denounce U.S. on Anniversary of Airliner Tragedy

NICOSIA, Cyprus —  Iranians denouncing “world-devouring America” on Wednesday commemorated 290 people killed when a U.S. warship shot down an Iran Air jet during the Iran-Iraq War three years ago.

Helicopters dropped flowers on the site near the Strait of Hormuz where the Airbus A-300 was blown out of the skies by two missiles fired by the U.S. cruiser Vincennes, Tehran Radio said.

Tehran accused Washington of murder. The Pentagon said the Vincennes crew had mistaken the airliner for an attacking Iranian fighter-bomber.

All people on board were killed, including 66 children and 52 women.

Tehran Radio said relatives of the victims took part in the memorial ceremony at the port of Bandar Abbas where the Airbus took off July 3, 1988, on a flight to Dubai across the Persian Gulf.

“They shouted slogans condemning this criminal and anti-human act of the world-devouring America and urged international bodies to punish its perpetrators,” it said.

Iran filed a suit at the International Court of Justice at the Hague in May, 1988, seeking damages for the loss of the plane, its passengers and crew. The United States has contested the court’s jurisdiction.