Al Jazeera: 'Operation Eagle Claw's Anniversary'

Source:Al Jazeera- Barry Rosen was one of the American hostages that was held by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979-80.

"It has been 30 years since the US undertook Operation Eagle Claw - a failed military mission to rescue 52 diplomats and embassy staff taken hostage in Iran.

About 90 commandoes, eight helicopters and six aircraft landed in the Iranian desert on the first stage of the mission, but an accident resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers and it was called off.

The hostage crisis lasted for another year after "divine intervention", as some Iranians say, stopped Eagle Claw. 

The anniversary comes amid rising tensions between the US and Iran. 

Al Jazeera Alireza Ronaghi reports from Tehran."

From Al Jazeera 

"Al Jazeera (Arabic: الجزيرة, romanized: al-jazīrah, IPA: [æl (d)ʒæˈziːrɐ], "The Peninsula")[3] is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera Media Network. The flagship of the network, its station identification, is Al Jazeera.

The patent holding is a "private foundation for public benefit" under Qatari law.[4] Under this organizational structure, the parent receives funding from the government of Qatar but maintains its editorial independence.[5][6] In June 2017, the Saudi, Emirati, Bahraini, and Egyptian governments insisted on the closure of the entire conglomerate as one of thirteen demands made to the Government of Qatar during the Qatar diplomatic crisis.[citation needed] The channel has been criticised by some organisations as well as nations such as Saudi Arabia for being "Qatari propaganda"

From Wikipedia

"Operation Eagle Claw, known as Operation Tabas (Persian: عملیات طبس) in Iran,[1] was a failed operation by the United States Armed Forces ordered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter to attempt the rescue of 52 embassy staff held captive at the Embassy of the United States, Tehran on 24 April 1980.

The operation, one of Delta Force's first,[2] 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.[3] 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, despite only four being absolutely necessary.[3] In a move that is still discussed in military circles, the field commanders advised President Carter to abort the mission, which he did.[4]

As the U.S. 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.[3]

In the context of the Iranian Revolution, Iran's new leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, stated that the mission had been stopped by an act of God ("angels of God") who had foiled the U.S. mission in order to protect Iran and his new Islamist government. In turn, Carter blamed his loss in the 1980 U.S. presidential election mainly on his failure to secure the release of the hostages.[5] The American hostages were released shortly after Reagan's inauguration." 

Source:Wikipedia- with a look at the 1979-90 Iranian Hostage Crisis.

From Wikipedia 

This rescue attempt not working was a disaster for the Carter Administration for a few reasons: 

One, it showed that they were not prepared and weren't sure who they were dealing with and the area they were dealing with to have a helicopter crash like that, because it lacked the fuel and that they were simply just weak even compared with a group of Islamic terrorist thugs holding a group of American diplomats. And keeping the greatest superpower in the world in crisis mode like that. Seeming not to know what to do and how to handle the situation. To go on top of a  pretty bad economy, the worst economy since the Great Depression.

With high unemployment, high prices, high interest rates and inflation, an energy shortage, America was already in bad shape economically and didn't need anything else to go on top of what they were already going through. The Iranian Hostage Crisis along with the bad economy would be something that Ronald Reagan and Congressional Republicans as well as the Republican National Committee would be able to use against President Carter and Congressional Democrats for the entire 1980 campaign, because the hostages weren't coming home before the general elections. 

I do give credit to President Carter for simply attempting the mission and looking for ways to quickly free the American hostages. One of those A for effort decisions. But an F as far as how the mission was planned and executed.  

You can also see this post at The Daily Press, on Blogger.