On April 25, 1980, the United States launched a covert
military operation, known as Operation Eagle Claw, in an attempt to airlift the
US embassy staff held in the Iranian capital, Tehran. As a symbol of the
failure of US plots against the Islamic Republic, Iran commemorates the event
every year in Tabas where government officials, religious leaders and people
gather.
The
plan was to be based on the use of elements from four branches of the US defense
forces: Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. The concept was based on an
operation whereby helicopters and C-130 aircraft, following different routes,
would rendezvous on a salt flat (code-named Desert One) 200 miles (320 km)
southeast of Tehran. Here the helicopters would refuel from the C-130s and pick
up the combat troops who had flown in on the C-130 transports. The helicopters
would then transport the troops to a mountain location (Desert Two) closer to
Tehran from which the actual rescue raid would be launched into the city the
following night. The operation was further to be supported by an in-country CIA
team. On completion of the raid, hostages were to be shepherded to a captured
Tehran airport from which they were to be flown to Egypt.
Desert One was in South Khorasan Province, in the Dasht-e
Lut desert near Tabas, while Desert Two was located 50 miles (80 km) short of Tehran.
The operation, one of Delta Force's first, encountered many obstacles
and failures and was subsequently aborted.
Eight
helicopters were sent to the first staging area called Desert One, but only
five arrived in operational condition. One had encountered hydraulic problems;
another was caught in a sand storm, and the third showed signs of a cracked
rotor blade.
During the operational planning, it was decided that the
mission would be aborted if fewer than six helicopters remained operational
upon arrival at the Desert One site, despite only four being absolutely
necessary. The field commanders advised US President Carter to abort the
mission, which he did.
As the
US forces prepared to withdraw from Desert One, one of the remaining
helicopters crashed into a transport aircraft that contained both servicemen
and jet fuel. The resulting fire destroyed both aircraft and killed eight
servicemen.
The founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini in a speech after the incident, condemned Jimmy Carter’s order for
military intervention in Iran and said the mission had been stopped by an act
of God (angels of God) who had foiled the US mission.
“Who
crushed Mr. Carter's helicopters? We did? The sands did! They were God's
agents. Wind is God's agent ... These sands are agents of God. They can try
again.”
Carter blamed his loss in the 1980 US presidential election
mainly on his failure to secure the release of the hostages. The American
hostages were released on 20 January 1981; minutes after Ronald Reagan had
taken the oath of office after winning the election against Carter.
Many believe Tabas incident played a major role in Carter’s
defeat in the 1980 presidential election in the US.
43 years ago on this day, the US forces conceded a
humiliating defeat in Tabas that later affected the country's internal
politics.
Iran
marks the 43rd anniversary of a failed US military operation in the central
Tabas Desert that was launched under the direct order of the US President Jimmy
Carter in an attempt to release former US embassy staff held in Tehran after
the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
On November 03, the founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah
Khomeini delivered a decisive speech and called on Iranian people, students,
and the clergies to thwart any US and Zionist regime’s conspiracies against the
newly established Islamic Republic of Iran and also to oblige the US government
to hand over Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had gone to New York for medical
treatment.
US
interference in Iran's internal affairs, its refusal to hand over the fugitive
Shah as well as the meeting of some interim government officials with Zbigniew
Brzezinski, the National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter (November 01,
1978) flared up Iranian's rage and made them take some retaliatory measures.
On November 04, 1979, on the first anniversary of the
massacre of 56 Iranian pupils by Shah’s troops, and the day on which Imam Khomeini
was exiled to Turkey (November 04 1964) by the oppressive Pahlavi regime,
almost 400 Iranian Muslim students known as Muslim Students of Imam Khomeini
Line stormed the US embassy.
During
the takeover of the embassy, documents were discovered that proved some of the
American embassy staff had been working with US intelligence agencies; meaning
they were spies. Some 52 Americans were held in Tehran for 444 days, but later
released unharmed.