TEHRAN -- The Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defense Works and Values invited the world artists to participate in the competition of designing a memorial statue for the passengers killed in the Iran Air Flight 655 which was shot down by U.S. Vincennes on July 3, 1988.

In a statement released by the foundation, all the interested artists from across the globe have been asked to hand in color prints of their designs along with a smaller-sized model of their works to the secretariat of the foundation in Tehran before September 2008.
The best design will be set up in a major park in Bandar-Abbas. It will also be awarded an honorary plaque and a cash prize of 4000 euros. The second and third top works will also receive honorary plaques and cash prizes of 2000 and 1000 euros respectively.
IR655 was shot down by U.S. Vincennes on the Bandar Abbas-Dubai route, which resulted in the loss of 290 lives of innocent civilians from six nations including 66 children. There were 38 non-Iranians aboard.
The U.S. government has, to date, neither admitted any wrongdoing or responsibility for this tragedy, nor apologized. The men of the Vincennes were all awarded and Commander Lustig, the air-warfare coordinator won the navy’s Commendation Medal for “heroic achievement”.