In this fraught atmosphere, an episode occurred that finally compelled Iran to accept a truce. This was the shooting down on 3 July 1988 of an Iranian civilian airplane by the American warship, USS Vincennes, a powerful guided missile cruiser that was part of the US armada patrolling the Gulf waters to ensure the free movement of merchant shipping. Fearing an Iranian air attack, the crew of USS Vincennes erroneously viewed a civilian Iran Air Airbus A300 as an Iranian F-14 aircraft. They shot it down, killing 290 passengers. The Reagan administration refused to accept any blame and, instead,
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