US Warns US Carriers from Overflying Persian Gulf

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fountainhall

US Warns US Carriers from Overflying Persian Gulf

Post by fountainhall »

As tension mounts with the war of words between the USA and Iran and an aircraft carrier fleet deployed to the Persian Gulf, the US authorities have warned US airlines to be ultra careful when overflying the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The reason? The possibility of
* accidental military targeting
* GPS interference
* GPS jamming
I can only find two flights this cautionary advice might affect - United flights between JFK and Delhi and Mumbai. This caution is eminently reasonable.
While the US language suggests possible miscalculation by Iran, Iran is taking the notice as a subtle threat that the U.S. would reprise its 1988 shooting down of Iran Air 655, a grave mistake similar to the Soviet downing of KAL 007.

Iran Air 655, an Airbus A300, flew from Tehran to Bandar Abbas on July 3, 1988. From there it operated a short flight to Dubai. The U.S. had issued a NOTAM that aircraft needed to identify themselves to avoid being shot down. However the plane was flying in Iranian airspace, not international airspace, and was above the proscribed altitude in the US NOTAM.

The civilian aircraft had departed Bandar Abbas, which also housed military F14 aircraft (it’s a whole separate story how Iran came to operate US fighter jets).

The USS Vincennes feared they would come under attack. They attempted to contact the Iranian aircraft but not on air traffic control frequencies, and identifying a plane going much faster than the Iran Air flight. They received no response, fired missiles at the plane, and killed all 274 passengers and 16 crew onboard. In 1996 the US agreed to pay Iran $132 million as a settlement though did not acknowledge wrongdoing.
https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.co ... shot-down/
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