In a Wednesday message to the ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the incident, Firouzabadi said the USS Vincennes targeted the Iranian Airbus A300 passenger plane on order of the criminal leaders in the White House, which created “one of the most heinous crimes throughout the history of passenger flights.”

The Iranian commander further stated that Washington’s crime will never be forgotten by the Iranian nation and human history.

Firouzabadi also slammed US pressures against the Islamic Republic, saying that imposition of the eight-year war with Iraq, various forms of economic and political blockade, as well as sanctions and other pressures exerted on the Islamic Republic have been part of measures taken by the US to bring the Iranian nation to its knees.

Iran Air Flight 655 was on a routine flight from Iran's southern city of Bandar Abbas to Dubai when it was shot down by the United States Navy's missile cruiser USS Vincennes on July 3, 1988, killing all 290 passengers onboard, including 66 children, and crewmembers.

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 psychological condition called 'scenario fulfillment', and had therefore confused their training scenario with reality and responded accordingly.

However, in 1990, former US President George H. 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.”