US officials at the time claimed their naval officers had mistaken the Airbus A300 for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat fighter jet.

They also claimed that the USS Vincennes crew had been under a simultaneous psychological condition called 'scenario fulfillment', and had therefore confused their training scenario with reality and responded accordingly.

However, in 1990, former US President George W. Bush awarded Captain Will C. Rogers III, the then-commanding officer of the USS Vincennes, with the Legion of Merit “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer.”

On the anniversary of the occasion, Iranian Armed Forces’ Deputy Chief of Staff Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri called on independent media and human rights activists across the globe to spotlight the US criminal acts, including the 1988 missile attack on an Iranian passenger jet that killed hundreds of innocent civilians.

“[Covering] the US inhumane action in killing 290 Iranian passengers of the Airbus passenger plane and other gruesome crimes [committed] by the ruling leaders of that country in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria is considered a critical mission for all advocates of human rights, peace and freedom, particularly for the independent media,” he said on Tuesday.
“The US crime in downing the Iranian passenger jet - as a crime against humanity - is so heart-wrenching that it will never be erased off history,” Jazayeri pointed out.

He critisized the White House and the Pentagon for awarding the “criminal commander” of the USS Vincennes and slammed the move as a “shameful stain on the forehead” of the self-declared advocates of human rights.