FNA- Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council (EC) Mohsen Rezayee reminded the US army's downing of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988, saying that the human rights that Washington claims to support is "nothing but a big lie".

"Today is the anniversary of the US warship's missile strike against Iran's Airbus passenger plane; a terrible incident that our nation has not forgotten it was an unforgivable crime but the surprise is that based on the world bodies' report, the US has not been blamed for downing the Iranian Airbus," Rezayee, also the former top commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), wrote on his webpage on Monday.

"The US(-backed) human rights is merely used to pressure the oppressed nations otherwise it is nothing but a big lie," he added.

In relevant remarks, a senior Iranian Navy commander dismissed claims that the US army had downed the Iranian passenger plane in 1988 as a result of mistake or system malfunctioning.

"The radars of missile-launching destroyers are equipped with the Interrogating Friend and Foe (IFF) system which shows the type of flying planes, including warplanes or passenger planes," said Admiral Nasser Sarnevesht, who was the commander of the rescue and search operations for the passengers on board the Iranian Airbus 655 who were killed by the American USS Vincennes missile cruiser in 1988.

"Therefore, recognition of an Airbus passenger plane is easy for an advanced US warship like Vincennes," he told FNA.

Sarnevesht once again dismissed the claims that the USS Vincennes targeted and blew up the Iranian passenger plane with two missiles as a result of mistake.

The Iranian passenger jet Airbus 655 that was flying from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on July 3 1988, with 290 passengers onboard was shot down by the American USS Vincennes missile cruiser. All the passengers lost their lives with the remaining of their bodies floating on the Persian Gulf waters.

The incident was followed by Tehran's filing a suit at international bodies, including the United Nations. Despite the existing evidence for the attack being intentional, the world forums ignored the facts. The UN Security Council held a meeting, after 2 days, and the speech made by Iran's Foreign Minister let the world know about the untrue nature of the US remarks.

Although Iran filed against the US in the United Nations and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), both bodies adopted a politicized attitude and declined to follow up the case legally, they only bothered to sympathize with the bereaved families of the victims.

In a bid to limit the negative impact of its violent action, the US claimed the Iranian passenger plane was a fighter jet and intended to target the American missile cruiser. The then US President, Ronald Reagan, praised the act of the USS Vincennes, but said in a different interview that the American missile cruiser mistakenly shot the Iranian passenger plane.

Iranians mark July the 3rd each year by showering the site of the disaster with flowers.