At first, the incident seemed like another deadly confrontation in the Persian Gulf between the armed forces of the U.S. and Iran. But the affair quickly developed into something far worse. On Sunday morning the Navy cruiser U.S.S. Vincennes, while battling several Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz, mistakenly shot down an Iranian commercial airliner. Iran said the Airbus A300 "exploded in the sky," killing all 298 people on board. Officers on the Vincennes had believed the aircraft was an Iranian F-14 fighter jet that was attacking the U.S. ship. The tragedy immediately invited comparison with the 1983 downing by the Soviet Union of a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747, a disaster that killed 269 people and stirred outrage around the world.
The Iranian Airbus was apparently hit by an SM-2 Standard Missile from the Vincennes at about 10:54 a.m. (2:54 a.m. Washington time), but more than eleven hours passed before what had happened became clear. At midday the U.S. was sticking to its contention that the ship had defended itself against an F- 14. Finally, at 1:20 p.m. Washington time, White House Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater read a statement from President Reagan, who had been awakened at Camp David at 4:52 a.m. and told of the new fighting. "I am saddened to report," said the President, "that it appears that in a proper defensive action by the U.S.S. Vincennes this morning in the Persian Gulf, an Iranian airliner was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz. This is a terrible human tragedy. Our sympathy and condolences go out to the passengers, crew and their families." At 1:30 p.m. a tense and obviously tired Admiral William Crowe, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, strode into the Pentagon briefing room to deliver the shocking details to the waiting reporters. He explained that the Vincennes had fired on the plane only after giving it several chances to identify itself. Crowe defended the actions of the Vincennes and its commander, Captain William C. Rogers of Fort Worth, as entirely proper, and said a full investigation would be conducted by Rear Admiral William N. Fogarty.
The incident seemed certain to escalate the confrontation in the gulf between the U.S. and Iran. Declared Radio Tehran: "America's crime today in downing an Iranian Airbus is . . . new evidence of American crimes and mischiefs, crimes which expose America's nature more than ever before."