Operation Eagle Claw, And It Was A Failure

In January 1979, Iranians opposed to the Shah’s rule invaded the American embassy in Tehran and held a group of 52 American diplomats and other hostages for 444 days. The Shah left Iran and the victorious Ayatollah Khomeini returned that February. Of the approximately 90 people inside the embassy, 52 remained in captivity until the end of the crisis. The reputation of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the hostage taking was further enhanced with the failure of a hostage rescue attempt that cost lives. The Ayatollah Khomeini set forth several demands to be met prior to the release of the hostages. The US had options of their own; however, the risk to the hostages required the utmost consideration. In order to secure their freedom, outgoing

November 4, 1979, seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran and the hostage of four hundred and forty-four days following, were the first steps leading up to the perpetual War on Terror. In the book Taken Hostage by David Farber informs about the Iran Hostage Crisis and the First Encounter with Radical Islam. United States and Iran got into conflict, leading to the Iranians holding American Embassy members hostage as revenge for them feeling betrayed by the United States. It also informs us about other events that occurred in a decade that caused the United States many problems. Farber believes the failure of American policymakers and more specifically from President Carter, to identify the severity of the crisis made for the prolonged crisis. The sheer ineptitude of the Carter administration was the cost of the US to lose it’s way economically, culturally, politically and even military. Carter struggled to respond to the impulses of Islamic fundamentalism within the prevailing Cold War paradigm. They saw the real problem as against modernism and they knew that the US was the major force spreading this belief throughout the world. The media misrepresentations of the struggle and mass media manipulation of Americans played on the peoples emotions. Although Carter was popular at the beginning of his presidency, this began to change when he was unable to solve economic problems and was unsuccessful in negotiating the release of the American hostages in Iran.

The Iranian hostage crisis was one of the most dramatic events in a series of problems that took place during President Jimmy Carter’s term. The crisis, beginning in November of 1979, received the most coverage of any major event since World War II. It was one of many problems faced in light of the United State’s complex relationship with Iran. The effects on both the US and Iran were astronomical, especially politically as well as economically and socially. It took a heavy toll on American relations with the Middle East and changed the way we engage in foreign affairs. In light of this crisis, Iran started an international war that we are still fighting thirty-two years later.

During this time, the people of this time became stricken with unprecedented gasoline and energy shortages and lost their jobs. Despite the previous political issues between Iran and the United States intelligence came up with plans to rescue 52 Americans from the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran. The Americans were taken by Iranian radicals in the attempt to enforce the patriotism and the release of assets. This not only caused economic hardship, military, and presidential conflict between the United States and Iran. It also brought forth the leadership of calling rescue mission by Jimmy Carter and the legacy Jimmy Carter and the legacy of the military officials fearlessness of negotiation and a surge of patriotism throughout the United States the legacy Jimmy Carter and the legacy of the military officials fearlessness of negotiation and a surge of patriotism throughout the United

The purpose of this investigation is to answer the question on how did the Iranian Hostage Crisis affect the relationship between United States and Iran. The main body of evidence will observe in depth the Iranian and United States relations during the hostage crisis. Evidence of this investigation will include secondary documents and books pertaining to the hostage time in Iran and US foreign policy. Speeches from the US President to the American public and to the world will also be analyzed. Information gathered will be evaluated in regards to their origin, purpose, value, and limitations. Research includes a book that analyzes why students invaded the US embassy in 1979, and why the Carter rescue mission failed so

Iranian students rioting outside the embassy, jumped over the gates of the embassy and took over. Every news station was counting the days the U.S. diplomats were hostages, almost every day the newspaper cover showed the days since Americans were taken hostage. Never in history had the American people experienced a situation like this. If this fact was not embarrassing enough for the president, he had planned and executed a failed rescue mission to retrieve the hostages. Operation Eagle Claw was a dismal failure, and made the United States appear weak and shameful. On April 10, 1980, this public debacle damaged the United States’ reputation around the world. The operation had encountered many obstacles, and eventually had to be aborted. Eight helicopters were sent on the mission and were to meet at Desert One, however, only five helicopters had arrived. Not only had the mission been aborted, but one helicopter crashed in the desert and killed eight service men. This gave the American people a sense of post-Vietnam nostalgia. The American people have lost faith in their president and saw him as weak leader. Many historians believe this entire fiasco to be the main event that cost Carter reelection in

The Iran Hostage Crisis lasted for 444 days and went from 4 November 1979 to 20 January 1981. This crisis happened only after a long time friend and ally, the Shah of Iran, was ousted from power and left Iran in January 1979. A revolutionary leader named Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power in Iran when he returned in February 1979. Khomeini started rhetoric against the United States as the "Great Satan" that provided young Iranian students a reason to storm the U.S. Embassy and take 66 people hostage. Fourteen people where released during the hostage crisis leaving 52 remaining. (1)

When news of the event came light to the United States they imminently went to action to fly 4,099 people out of the country. Throughout the year tensions were still at a high, but when the United States Allowed Shah to travel to the united states for cancer treatment. The Iranians were out raged at the action of the United States so in doing so the Iranians again seized control of the embassy. 66 U.S. personnel were taken hostage, later 13 were let go leaving only 53 to remain in the embassy. All through President James E. Carter, Jr. term he tried varies attempts to release the U.S. hostages but none were successful. Soon afterwards President

The proposal was to send eight America Helicopters to the embassy compound and capture/bring the hostages home. Two of the helicopters got caught in a dust storm flying from the USS Nimitz to a road acting as a airstrip in the Great Salt Desert and got disabled after the they traveled without radio communications. The next morning the remaining six helicopters met up at Desert One (Landing and refueling site) to which a third helicopter was marked unserviceable. As the helicopters were repositioning for refueling one of them ran into a C-130 Tanker Aircraft killing eight service men. In the end, this operation ended in failure, the death of eight service men, and no hostages rescued. On April 25, one of the helicopters that was going to be used to try to receive and bring home the hostages was moving to refuel when it crashed into a C-130 Tanker Aircraft as you can see the wing of in this photograph. Instead of saving lives, on this day America lost eight. The

The Iran Hostage Crisis, the beginning of United States interactions with Islamic extremists and economic reform in the middle east lasted from 1979 to 1981. The birth of these extremists lies in the economic policies of the United States and the middle east. The Shah, who was the supreme leader of the nation of Iran, was an ally of the United States for several decades. Despite his support from the U.S. government, he was known as a brutal leader who used excessive force and torture of his people, mostly Iranian students who spoke out against him. After decades of death, torture, abuse and other heinous crimes against humanity, the people of Iran began supporting Ayatollah Khomeini, a fundamentalist. To force events to transpire quicker, students took action by attacking the United States embassy and capturing hostages. These protestors saw the embassy as a physical representation of support for the Shah and his oppressive and cruel regime. The Americans who were working in the embassy on that day were taken hostage. What was suspected as being a relatively short hostage situation

On November 4th 1979, Iranian revolutionary students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Teheran and took 52 Americans and some military personnel hostage. The students would only release the hostages if America would hand over the Shah to receive trial and most likely execution along with no more interfering in Iranian affairs.3 Many rescue mission attempts, blocking resources, and compromising with Iran gave little to no hope to retrieve the hostages and bring piece. “Under enormous political pressure, on November 12th, President Jimmy Carter ordered the pentagon to begin drawing up plans for a daring – read: foolhardy – rescue mission codenamed “Operation Eagle Claw”.4

On November 4th 1979, Iranian revolutionary students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Teheran and took 52 Americans and some military personnel hostage. The students would only release the hostages if America would hand over the Shah to receive trial and most likely execution along with no more interfering in Iranian affairs.3 Many rescue mission attempts, blocking resources, and compromising with Iran gave little to no hope to retrieve the hostages and bring piece. “Under enormous political pressure, on November 12th, President Jimmy Carter ordered the pentagon to begin drawing up plans for a daring – read: foolhardy – rescue mission codenamed “Operation Eagle Claw”.3

The US receives intelligence that 6 people have escaped and try to formulate a plan to rescue them. They come up with an idea to fake a movie and have the 6 escaped refugees play roles of producers, looking for the location for the movie. This mission resembles the one that was almost put into play by the US during the actual crisis. The mission was called: Operation Eagle Claw but was aborted due to a sandstorm the day before the mission was supposed to launch. Several helicopters malfunctions and one crashed, killing eight soldiers in the process. In the movie, the mission is successful and the refugees escape, but only the hostages that were released by the Iranians escaped during the actual

Iran took 52 Americans hostage on November 4, 1979. The resulting failed rescue attempt, Operation Eagle Claw, was an international embarrassment for the United States. No single event or decision resulted in the mission’s failure; instead, the failure resulted from a chain of poor decisions. This single operation highlighted the need for a dedicated special operations aviation unit dedicated to the rescue of American citizens and their repatriation. This paper discusses the global situation and some of the poor decisions that were made throughout the entirety of the mission from planning through the crash at Desert One.

On 30th April 1980 six terrorists entered the Iranian Embassy in London and took 26 people hostage, which included the embassy staff, visitors, and the security guard. The terrorists demanded the release of Arab prisoners jailed in Khuzestan along with a safe way out of the UK. However, the government denied their demands, but accomplished the release of 5 hostages through minor concessions. After a few days, when the terrorist demands were not met they killed one hostage. The British government then instructed its Special Air Services (SAS) to launch an operation called Nimrod to rescue the hostages. The SAS rappelled down the embassy building and entered through its windows. The raid lasted 17 minutes in which the