Perhaps one of the most high-profile failures of the American intelligence services was the operation "Eagle's Claw" or "Delta" in 1980, which ended before it really began. At that distant time, the aggressively minded American authorities were not yet pursuing a democratic policy and were ready for active military operations, especially when it came to conflicts in the Middle East.
Therefore, in the early 1980s, the Pentagon easily planned offensive, reconnaissance or top-secret assault operations, without caring what situations in world politics this might lead to or how it would end up for the reputation of the United States of America as a democratic secular state.
Later, in the mid-nineties of the last century, America changed its approach to the political game, heading towards the gradual restoration of a peaceful foreign policy. The US military began to actively destroy evidenceaggressive policy of the past, covering up traces and eliminating all witnesses of various bloody slaughterhouses in third world countries.
So for a long time no one remembered anything about Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, until the film Argo was released in 2013, which tells about the events from the American point of view. The public rhetoric that emerged after the film's premiere brought the public back to the discussion of America's foreign policy at the end of the last century, which allowed many facts that had not been cleaned up in time to surface.
"Eagle Claw" and "Delta"
The operation, which has already become a kind of legend, as well as a deplorable example of the work of the CIA, was carried out on April 24, 1980. The essence of the planned hostilities carried out by the armed forces of the United States of America was the release of fifty-three hostages who were captured by revolutionary Iranian students at the US Embassy in Tehran.
The operation ended in complete failure without even entering its first phase. More than forty years have passed since this special operation, but history still stores almost all the information about it. The available information that has been leaked to the media and various printed publications does not fully correspond to the truth, which has remained forever hidden in the long-destroyed secret archives of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Start of conflict
Political events in Tehran that led to the planningUS troops in the ill-fated Operation Eagle Claw in 1980 began with a typical student uprising. Some sources report that the uprising was indeed organized by Iranian students, other data prove that the revolutionaries were ardent religious fanatics and followers of Imam Khomeini, who opened his school in Tehran in the late sixties and preached the foundations of radical Islam.
On November 4, 1979, four hundred members of the Muslim Student Organization attacked the United States Embassy by surprise. By a strange coincidence, the Iranian police did not put up a security detachment at the gates of the embassy, whose powers included the protection and protection of the embassy employees. All the time before the uprising, the detachment was in the embassy building, but on the day of the conflict it was absent from its place.
Embassy workers sent several requests for help to the Iranian police, but all requests were ignored, and the building was left to protect only a small detachment of American marines who were in the embassy as internal personal protection of employees.
After several hours of fierce resistance, the inner garrison was forced to retreat and surrender. Due to the large number of attackers, even effective means of dispersing demonstrations, such as tear gas and rubber batons, were ineffective. The students were well armed and opened fire, killing about twentyman and seriously damaging the embassy building itself.
Seizure of power
By evening, the building was completely occupied, and the revolutionaries made an official statement announcing that all these actions were only a degeneration of the protest against the fact that America granted political asylum to the former Shah of Iran. Also, according to the revolutionaries, this action was supposed to be a demonstration of the pride and freedom of the Iranian people and their disagreement with the policy of the United States of America, which was trying to weaken the religious power in the country. The students argued that, despite all the intrigues of the Western intelligence services, the "Islamic revolution" would still take place on the soil of Iran, and also demanded the immediate extradition of the Shah to bring him to the revolutionary people's court.
Excited religious fanatics for a long time could not calm down, provoking the civilian population and agitating them to go to rallies and demonstrations against America, and also asking them to express support for the revolutionary movement, designed to free all Iranians from the yoke of the West. The protesters chanted radical slogans, shouted out quotes from the Koran and burned the US and Israeli state flags.
All mass media and printed publications of the country continuously supplied the civilian population with information about the events, as well as about the successes of the revolutionaries in the liberation of Iran. TV showed live broadcasts from the place of rallies and armed clashes, and newspapers and magazines were full of photographs from the place of hostilities. The radio was buzzing with the abundance of radical information received from all religious,political and social organizations of Iran.
In total, about seventy people were taken hostage by the terrorists. However, fourteen of them were soon released. The Islamists considered it necessary to release some of the hostages for propaganda purposes, but there was not a single white American among those released.
Fifty-four people remained in captivity of the radical revolutionaries.
Despite the fact that the revolutionaries made great efforts to present everything that happened as a secular coup d'etat, it immediately became clear to everyone that a religious coup had taken place in Iran, during which secular power and the old clergy were abolished and the reins of government fell into the hands of radical Islamists.
US reaction
The question of further relations with Iran remained open for a long time. Moreover, before choosing a new course for foreign policy, the American government needed to fully understand the situation. The United States of America had quite a few agreements concluded with the previous Iranian government, and now the new government demanded that America fulfill its obligations. But the United States hesitated, as the new government of Iran was represented not by politicians and the civilian population of the country, but by armed rebel fighters who promote the ideas of radical Islam.
Choosing a policy of temporary non-intervention in the internal affairs of the young Islamic government, the US government concluded an agreement with it, under which it was possibletake out about seven thousand US citizens to their homeland. Also, the Americans were able to take their military equipment and intelligence equipment out of the country, which had been near the Soviet border for a long time and could provoke a military conflict with the USSR if Soviet intelligence found out about it.
However, this was the end of the cooperation between the two states, as the American authorities refused to renew the agreement with the new government on the supply of powerful new-generation weapons. Of course, the US authorities were ready to make concessions and transport the weapons ordered by Iran during the reign of the Shah. But with one condition - along with weapons, the military units of the American army were to arrive in the country, which, in fact, meant military expansion in order to return everything to its original places.
At the end of October, the Shah, who is in America, needed medical assistance. This gave the American authorities a reason to declare that the Shah needed urgent hospitalization, and he is in America for treatment, having only a temporary visa, as a patient of one of the clinics.
After that, radical supporters of Khomeini's ideology decided to put pressure on the United States and at the same time remove the remnants of the legitimate Iranian government. Despite the absence of a clear threat to the lives and safety of the hostages languishing in the embassy, the US President gave the order to begin preparations for a possible military operation to rescue them. The Eagle Claw or Delta operation, which appeared in early 1980, was the very tragically ended missionwhich was not destined to influence the course of events in any way.
The legitimate government of Iran suddenly decided to show firmness and, in the absence of the Shah, try to restore his power and authority, telling America that he would make every effort to resolve the conflict peacefully, but already on November 6, Tehran radio broadcast the official resignation of the Iranian Prime Minister, which he wrote in the name of Khomeini.
The spiritual leader of the terrorists granted the petition, and at the same time transferred all power into the hands of the "Islamic Revolutionary Council", which from now on was supposed to decide all state and political issues, from choosing the course of Iran's foreign and domestic policy to the election of the president and the Mejlis.
That's how, with the help of the capture of just one building, the famous "Islamic revolution" was organized. Most historians believe that if the US government's planned Operation Eagle Claw or Operation Delta had succeeded in 1980, there might never have been any religious revolutions in the Middle East.
An attempt at a diplomatic confrontation
Meanwhile, large-scale, by the standards of the country, political events unfolded on the territory of Iran. At the beginning of winter, a national referendum, held at the insistence of Khomeini, approved the new government and the very fact of the overthrow of the previous government. In January 1980, a new president was elected, and already in March-May, supporters of radical Islam also formed a parliament. By September, the revolutionaries had succeeded in establishing a permanent government capable ofrepresent the diplomatic interests of the country in the international arena.
In response, the US government also decided to take drastic measures by freezing all financial assets belonging to Iran, as well as announcing an embargo on oil produced in Iran. In addition to these measures, all diplomatic relations with Iran were severed, and a complete economic boycott of the country was introduced.
The situation was clearly becoming more complicated, the international atmosphere was heating up, and the US President decided to go the other way, ordering the activation of the Eagle Claw project in Iran. Of course, then both sides were quite optimistic, and none of the opponents even imagined how this confrontation could end. The American government, confident in its abilities, could not even think about the possible failure of Delta.
Preparation for the operation did not take long. One of the most difficult processes in the preparation of the mission was the reconnaissance process, since US citizens in Iran were extremely unfriendly, and it was decided not to send a special detachment to reconnaissance, but to illegally launch a drone with a camera over the territory of an unfriendly country.
In April 1980, Jimmy Carter gave a direct order to begin the first phase of Operation Eagle Claw, then known as Rice Pot.
Mission Plan
According to the developed strategy of action, a special detachment was supposed to secretly penetrate the territory of Iran on six vehiclesaircraft, and if three of them were supposed to transport soldiers of the American army, then the remaining three were loaded to the top with fuel, ammunition and everything necessary for the successful implementation of the operation.
It was planned to refuel aircraft and provide soldiers with weapons and ammunition in a secret facility code-named "Desert-1", located near Tehran. The object was well guarded by soldiers of the American army sent there in advance.
Operation Eagle Claw was quite a massive operation by the standards of the time, given that its ultimate goal was to free only fifty-four people. On the same night, the fighters of the special group were supposed to receive air support, for which the combat helicopter link was responsible.
Further, the Delta group, which consisted of selected units of American special forces, would board helicopters and safely reach a predetermined place near Tehran, where the cars would remain waiting for the fighters along with the rescued prisoners, and the military personnel would go to the capital for six trucks disguised as regular trucks owned by one of the local fruit companies.
On the night of April 26, the group was supposed to storm the embassy building, free the hostages and call in helicopters for fire support, as well as to transfer people to a safe place. According to the calculations of employees of the US military departments, in the morning the citizens of the country, together with the military personnel, were supposed to return to their homeland safe and sound.safety.
That was the original mission plan, and it must be said that none of the highest ranks of the American military leadership expected the failure of Delta.
Start operation
From the start of the mission, the circumstances began to develop not in favor of the US Army. According to all prepared documents describing the "Eagle Claw", the operation was supposed to go smoothly and silently, but fate decreed otherwise.
The first stage of the special mission was successful - the C-130 squadron successfully redeployed to Egypt. The American authorities were able to convince the government of the country that military units were introduced into it only for the sake of conducting large-scale exercises in which the Egyptian army could also take part. From the temporary American base in Morocco, part of the soldiers who were supposed to directly participate in the operation were sent to the island of Masirah, which is under the jurisdiction of Oman. A thorough and final preparation for the mission was carried out here.
On the night of April 24, planes once again shortened the distance to Tehran by flying across the Gulf of Oman.
From this moment, the failure of the Delta Force operation begins. The place for landing flying tanks was chosen extremely unsuccessfully. In addition, almost immediately after the landing of one of the planes, a bus passed along a nearby road, which the American soldiers were forced to stop and delay in order to maintain the secrecy of the mission. Before they had time to destroy the traces of their presence, a tank filled with aviation kerosene appeared on the road. The FBI Special Forces immediately took decisive action, simply destroying a fuel truck with a volley from an infantry grenade launcher.
There was an explosion of such power that it immediately became clear that the operation was ruined in the bud. Colonel Beckwith, who was in charge of the mission, analyzed the situation:
- Two combat helicopters irretrievably lost.
- A column of flame from a burning fuel truck is visible from afar and serves as an excellent signal for enemies.
Under these conditions, the commander made a decision - it is necessary to withdraw the remaining troops and wait for another convenient opportunity to complete the Eagle Claw mission.
Disaster
However, he did not have time to give the order to stop the operation. One of the transport helicopters escorting the mission failed to complete the maneuver in time and crashed into the Hercules full of fuel at full speed. A powerful explosion destroyed all the fuel stored for the operation. Soon the fire spread to the field warehouses with weapons, and the desert turned into one continuous blazing torch. The fate of Operation Eagle Claw has been sealed.
Not far from the gas station there was a camp of commandos who rushed into the base screaming and shooting, mistaking the explosions of burning cartridges for an attack by militants. The guys started shooting at each other, and it took a long time before the parties realized that they were allies. Operation Eagle Claw in Iran was not to be.
Despite the presence of top-secret documents in the cockpits of military equipment, Colonel Beckwith ordereddrop everything and hurriedly load into the remaining intact transport planes.
Criticism
A number of military historians believe that the failure of the Eagle Claw was predictable. And the point here is not at all the professionalism of the American soldiers, but the insufficient elaboration of the details of the operation. The essence of the problem lies in the fact that in conditions similar to those that were in Iran, conducting operations such as "Eagle's Claw" was simply inappropriate. The situation in Iran implied two solutions: either a full-fledged military invasion of the country, or diplomatic negotiations. The US government tried to create a solution.
Which was somewhere in the middle between the two above, which led to the tragedy. Due to the attempt to meet all conditions and anticipate all possible failures, the operation plan turned out to be too complicated and overloaded. It was impossible to carry out the "Eagle Claw" in Iran, based on any scenario. The abundance of military equipment concentrated for the mission simply could not adequately interact with each other due to lack of space.
You can also question the success of the operation if the US forces did manage to get to Tehran, the fierce resistance of local rebels would lead to a bloody massacre that would escalate into a long war.
After failure
After the failure of Operation Eagle Claw, the Secretary of State of the United States of America stepped down from his duties, andthe government of the country began to urgently develop a plan for a new operation, which was supposed to be the beginning of a war in the Middle East. Despite Iran's attempts to cope with the situation on its own, the American government nevertheless decided on an immediate military invasion of the territory of an unfriendly country in order to free the hostages and return the former political regime. The new mission was codenamed "Badger" and was supposed to be a logical continuation of Operation Eagle Claw 1980.
