I was told by someone in the RN that the Iranians had a couple of fighters - presumably F-14's though F-4's were mentioned - hiding alongside the airbus until the last minute - so may be interpreted as either using it as a mask while checking out, illuminating, targets- or as a deliberate decoy...
Presume F-14's if a radar signal was received, as it would be recognised from the threat library ( unless they've cobbled the Tomcat radar onto a Phantom ) but otherwise even Aegis may not be that wonderful at range with other large targets around...?
Either way I just feel sorry for the Vincennes guys ( not to mention the Airbus occupants ) - they wouldn't have been there at all if the Iranians weren't being twerps.