David Burns: I was in the last ‘Shadow War’ with Iran. It’s a cautionary tale. – Salt Lake Tribune
The fighting ended in tragedy, however, when, on July 3, 1988, the cruiser USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 near the Strait of Hormuz, killing all 290 civilians on board. Two weeks later, Iran used the downing as a pretext to end the Iran-Iraq war, otherwise the fighting probably would have continued to intensify.