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Notes -
IMO the USS Stark incident is a better comparison: a US frigate was hit by Iraqi Exocet missiles, killling 37 sailors during the Iran-Iraq war in 1987. While there was some diplomacy (and some accounts that it was deliberate), it wasn't viewed as a casus belli, although Iraq did end up paying reparations for it as part of a larger deal involving the whole Gulf War.
As opposed to the year later, where Operation Praying Mantis saw the US sink half of Iran's navy after USS Samuel B. Roberts hit an Iranian mine (somehow without loss of life), and almost fired on a Soviet ship that claimed to be in the area to "take pictures for history." A month later, USS Vincennes managed to shoot down a commercial Iranian airliner.
Honestly, I think the lesson is that fog of war is very real and it's quite likely that someone ordered the attack, and someone was aware it was an American ship. But these were quite likely different parties, quite possibly far apart, and making decisions hastily often leads to oversights.
Id just like to take a moment to appreciate USS Samuel B Roberts living up to both of her namesakes by embracing Leroy Jenkins as her spirit animal. One can only hope that after hitting the mine her captain's response was "at least we have chicken".
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