Editing Operation Praying Mantis (section)

==Aftermath==
{{More citations needed|date=July 2021}}
By the end of the operation, US Marines and US Navy ships and aircraft had destroyed Iranian naval and intelligence facilities on two inoperable oil platforms in the [[Persian Gulf]], and sunk at least three armed Iranian [[Boghammer]] [[speedboat]]s, one Iranian frigate, and one fast attack missile boat. One other Iranian frigate was damaged in the battle.<ref name="nhhsite">{{cite web|last=Peniston|first=Bradley|title=No Higher Honor: Photos: Operation Praying Mantis|year=2006|url=http://www.navybook.com/nohigherhonor/pic-prayingmantis.shtml|access-date=2 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614190554/http://www.navybook.com/nohigherhonor/pic-prayingmantis.shtml|archive-date=14 June 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Sabalan'' was repaired in 1989 and has since been upgraded, and is [[List of current ships of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy#Frigates|still in service with the Iranian navy]]. The fires eventually burned themselves out but the damage to the infrastructure forced the demolition of the Sirri platforms after the war.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} The site was built up again for oil production by French and Russian oil companies, after buying the drilling rights from the Iranian government.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

The U.S. side suffered two casualties, the crew of a Marine Corps [[AH-1 SuperCobra|AH-1T Sea Cobra]] attack helicopter. The Cobra, attached to USS ''Trenton'', was flying reconnaissance from ''Wainwright'' and crashed sometime after dark about {{convert|15|mi|km}} southwest of [[Abu Musa]] island. The bodies of the lost personnel were recovered by Navy divers in May, and the wreckage of the helicopter was raised later that month. Navy officials said it showed no sign of battle damage.<ref>{{cite news|title=Will Block Oil Traffic if Its Tankers Are Stopped: Iran|work=Los Angeles Times|date=18 May 1988|pages=7}}</ref> In his book "Tanker War," author Lee Allen Zatarain indicates there was some evidence the helicopter may have crashed while evading hostile fire from the island.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

A month later, the guided-missile cruiser {{USS|Vincennes|CG-49|6}} arrived, summoned in haste to protect the frigate ''Samuel B. Roberts'' as it was hauled back to the United States. On 3 July 1988, ''Vincennes'' shot down [[Iran Air Flight 655]], a commercial airliner flying a scheduled route, killing all 290 crew and passengers. The U.S. government claimed that the crew of ''Vincennes'' mistook the Iranian Airbus for an attacking [[F-14 Tomcat|F-14]] fighter. The Iranian government alleged that ''Vincennes'' knowingly shot down a civilian aircraft and called for the deaths of its crew.

===International Court of Justice===
On 6 November 2003 the International Court of Justice dismissed a claim by Iran and a counterclaim by the United States'<ref name=IOCjudgement2003 /> for reparations for breach of a 1955 'Treaty of Amity' between the two countries. In short, the court rejected both claim and counterclaim because the 1955 treaty protected only "freedom of trade and navigation between the territories of the parties"<ref name=IOCjudgement2003 /> and because of the US trade embargo on Iran at the time, no direct trade or navigation between the two was affected by the conflict.

The court did state that "the actions of the United States of America against Iranian oil platforms on 19 October 1987 (Operation Nimble Archer) and 18 April 1988 (Operation Praying Mantis) cannot be justified as measures necessary to protect the essential security interests of the United States of America". The Court ruled that it "...cannot however uphold the submission of the Islamic Republic of Iran that those actions constitute a breach of the obligations of the United States of America under Article X, paragraph 1, of that Treaty, regarding freedom of commerce between the territories of the parties, and that, accordingly, the claim of the Islamic Republic of Iran for reparation also cannot be upheld;".<ref name=IOCjudgement2003 />