Nearly forty years have passed since a failed US military operation in the desert of Tabas on Iranian soil. The US scandalous defeat came after an operation was launched in an attempt to release former US embassy staff held in Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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.
However, a sandstorm hit and brought down the group of US military aircraft in the Tabas Desert, killing eight American servicemen and resulting in the abortion of the mission.
Inspections showed a helicopter crashed into a C-130 Hercules transport plane as five other choppers were stranded in the storm.
The units involved in the operation were from the US Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
The Tabas incident occurred during the administration of former US President Jimmy Carter, and many believe it played a major role in Carter’s defeat in the 1980 presidential election in the US.
Carter read the news headlines about the defeat of the operation at his office in white house
Iran commemorates the event every year as a symbol of the failure of US plots against the Islamic Republic.
Each year, Iranians from the city of Tabas and from across other Iranian cities gather for an annual commemoration ceremony.
Following the US failure, Imam Khomeini said in a series of messages as following:
Carter’s mistake is in his conjecture. He thinks that he can make the Iranian nation to go astray from the way of God and humanity. By this foolish display he presumes that the Iranian nation will retreat while the nation of Iran is ready to sacrifice everything for Islam, independence and freedom.
Carter must know that an attack on Iran is an assault to all Islamic countries. The Muslims around the world are not indifferent in this matter.
Carter should know that this foolish act that he has committed will turn his own friends into enemies. It has left so deep an effect in America.
Carter should know that he has nullified his political prestige by this childish act. He should give up the hope of becoming president. Carter by this act has proved that he is short of thinking power.
(Sahifeh-ye-Imam, Vol.12, page 223,224)