Review of the Legal Challenges in Front of Iran and USA on the Airbus File
Subject Areas : International Relations
1 - Political Science Professor of Tehran University
Keywords: Persian Gulf, Key words: International Court of Justice, ICAO Council, Iranian Airbus Flight No. 655, Vincennes Battleship,
Abstract :
Abstract On July 3, 1988, the American Vincennes battleship, based in Persian Gulf, moved to the outskirt of Persian Islands, Qeshm and Hengam, in response to the report of another American battleship present in the zone stating that a Pakistani commercial ship had been attacked. Following this action, as claimed by the Iranian authorities, a few Iranian military boats shot at Vincennes which was followed by the reaction of the American cruiser. During the conflict, the said battleship shot two missiles at the airliner of Iran Air Company. Flight No. 655 who was carrying 290 passengers and crew from Bandar Abbas airport to Dubai and the airliner crashed. Immediately after the occurrence of that accident, the Iranian government brought up the case to ICAO. ICAO just condemned the case and did not blame America. Therefore, Iran’s objective was not fulfilled in that investigation. Therefore, after the crash, the US government refused to accept any responsibility or to indemnify Iran Air Company. Rather, it declared its preparedness to directly indemnify the survivors of the accident. The Iranian government rejected the proposal and filed a petition at the International Court of Justice on May 17, 1989 and subsequently submitted its plead to that court. In its suit, Iran sought for the following objectives: - Reconsideration concerning ICAO’s decision dated March 17, 1989 that had expressed that the US government had not violated Chicago Convention; - Making a decision on violation of the convention for prohibition of illegal measures against the security of civil aviation (Montreal Convention) by the US government due to the crash of Iran Air airplane; - Determining the compensation which should be paid by the US government subject to the proof of the violation contained in the above clause; Therefore, this Article aims to read out the case on the crash of Iranian airbus by the American Vincennes battleship, to find about how the accident happened as well as about legal claims of Iran, to review the legal challenge between Iran and America and finally to find how and why that case was closed at the International Court of Justice before review.
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