Central Intelligence Agency Logistical support: Operation Eagle Claw (Persian: عملیات پنجه عقاب) was a failed operation by the United States Armed Forces ordered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter to attempt the rescue of 53 embassy staff held captive at the Embassy of the United States, Tehran, on 24 April 1980.

Facing elections and with little to show from negotiations, the Carter government ordered the State Department to sever diplomatic relations with Iran on 7 April 1980.

[10][11][Note 1] He also continued to entertain the planning for a concurrent punitive air-strike, but this was finally rejected on 23 April, one day before the start of the mission,[11] which was code-named Operation Eagle Claw.

According to an 11 April 1980 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analysis, "Evidence indicates that Iraq had probably planned to initiate a major military move against Iran with the aim of toppling the Khomeini regime" and had "sought to engage the Kuwaitis to act as intermediary in obtaining United States approval and support for Iraqi military action against Iran".

[15] Army Major General James B. Vaught was appointed as Joint Task Force commander and was to be forward-based at Wadi Kena in Egypt, reporting directly to the President.

The concept was based on an operation where 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.

The helicopters would then transport the troops to a mountain location (Desert Two) closer to Tehran, from which the rescue raid would be launched into the city the following night.

[13] On 31 March, anticipating the need for military action, a U.S. Air Force Combat Controller, Major John T. Carney Jr., was flown in a Twin Otter to Desert One by covert CIA operatives Jim Rhyne and Claude "Bud" McBroom for a clandestine survey of the proposed landing areas for the helicopters and C-130s.

[19][21] The Tehran CIA Special Activities Division in-country paramilitary team, led by retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer Richard J. Meadows, had two assignments: to obtain information about the hostages and the embassy grounds[Note 3] and to transport the rescue team from Desert Two to the embassy grounds in pre-staged vehicles.

[23] The complex plan required that on the first night, three USAF EC-130s (Call signs: Republic 4, 5, and 6), carrying the logistical supplies, and three MC-130E Combat Talons (Call signs: Dragon 1, 2, and 3), carrying Delta Force and Ranger troops (132 assault and security troops in total),[24] would depart Masirah, off the coast of Oman, for Desert One, a flight of over 1,000 miles (1600 km).

[25] Eight United States Navy (USN) RH-53D Sea Stallion (Call signs: Bluebeard 1 – 8)[26] helicopters were positioned aboard USS Nimitz, 60 miles off the coast of Iran.

[28] In parallel to the rescue, an Army Ranger company would capture the abandoned Manzariyeh Air Base,[29] (34°58′58″N 50°48′20″E / 34.98278°N 50.80556°E / 34.98278; 50.80556) about 60 miles southwest of Tehran, to allow two C-141 Starlifters[30] to arrive from Saudi Arabia.

Soon after the first crews landed and began securing Desert One, a civilian Iranian bus with a driver and 43 passengers was stopped while traveling on the road, which now served as the runway for the aircraft.

[35][Note 5] Minutes after the bus had been stopped, the Rangers in the road-watch team observed a fuel tanker truck, ignoring their orders to halt, bearing down on them.

[36] The truck, apparently smuggling fuel, was blown up by the Army Ranger roadblock team using a shoulder-fired rocket as it tried to escape the site.

[37] The resulting fire illuminated the nighttime landscape for many miles around, and provided a visual guide to Desert One for the disoriented incoming helicopters.

Bluebeard 5 flew into the haboob, but abandoned the mission and returned to the Nimitz when electrical problems disabled flight instruments and flying without visual references proved impossible.

[33] With only five fully serviceable helicopters now remaining to transport the men and equipment to Desert Two (minimum of six aircraft was the planned mission's abort threshold), the various commanders reached a stalemate.

To make it to the air tanker refueling track without running out of fuel, it had to leave immediately and was already loaded with part of the Delta team.

[43][Note 7] A Combat Controller attempted to direct the maneuvre from in front of the aircraft but was blasted by desert sand churned up by the rotor.

On 25 April 1980, Major General Robert M. Bond read a message from President Jimmy Carter at a memorial service commemorating them in Niceville, Florida.

Joel Mayo – were buried in the Arlington National Cemetery in a grave marked by a common headstone, located about 25 feet from the group memorial.

Mohammad Montazer al-Qaim, Commander of the Yazd Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) went to the scene to investigate reports from locals.

At the same time, without knowing of the investigation activities of the IRGC, the Iranian Air Force conducted two observation flights over the incident area.

[58] US Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, believing that the operation would not work and would only endanger the lives of the hostages, opted to resign, regardless of whether the mission was successful or not.

"[63]The embassy hostages were subsequently scattered across Iran to preclude any second rescue attempt and were released on 20 January 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan had taken the oath of office, after winning the 1980 election over Carter.

The Holloway Report primarily cited deficiencies in mission planning, command and control, and inter-service operability, and provided a catalyst to reorganize the Department of Defense.

In addition to the 160th SOAR's creation, the US Defense Department now trains many military helicopter pilots in low-level penetration, aerial refueling, and use of night-vision goggles.

It called for a modified Hercules, the YMC-130H, outfitted with rocket thrusters fore and aft to allow an extremely short landing and take-off in Amjadieh Stadium.

The first fully modified aircraft crashed during a demonstration at Duke Field at Eglin Air Force Base on 29 October 1980, when its landing braking rockets were fired too soon.