In August 1988 at the tail end of the Iran-Iraq War, the US Navy ship USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655, a civilian Airbus A300 carrying 290 people, with two missiles over the Persian Gulf. All 290 passengers, most of whom were Iranian citizens, were killed. The Vincennes was stationed in the Persian Gulf as a response to increased attacks on foreign shipping infrastructure in the region by the Iranian and Iraqi armies, an extension of their ongoing war. In the preceding months, the Iranian government mined another US warship, and the US mined Iranian warships in response. After Flight 655 had been bombed, the US government claimed that Vincennes had mistaken the Airbus for an attacking Iranian fighter jet.

The incident was a source of massive international controversy, especially as President Ronald Reagan’s administration refused to apologize. Iran perceived the bombing as a purposeful attack—in essence, a declaration of war from the United States—and fear of combat between the two countries began to grow. Distrust over the incident has continued to negatively influence relations between the United States and Iran for decades, particularly in the 2010s during the adoption of the Iran Nuclear Deal.

In Martyr!, Cyrus grows up believing that his mother was killed on Iran Air Flight 655, and this origin story determines the immense internal conflict he feels over his Iranian American identity.