Warning to Iran Jet Came Seconds Before Attack, Report Says

The Iranian airliner shot down by a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf last summer had only about 40 seconds to react to a direct warning before it was shot down, says a report for the International Civil Aviation Organization.

The Canadian Press news agency said the report, prepared by a technical team from the Montreal-based U.N. organization, confirmed the U.S. government claim that several warnings were issued to the Iran Air Airbus before it was shot down by the U.S. guided missile cruiser Vincennes on July 3, killing 290 people.

But the report said that only one warning--from another U.S. ship in the area, the frigate Sides--was coded specifically for Iran Air Flight 655. That warning came just 40 seconds before the jet was destroyed, the report said.