WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews) – The same elite U.S. Special Operations units created in the aftermath of the botched 1980 Iran hostage rescue mission carried out a successful 48-hour operation to save two F-15E Strike Eagle airmen in Iran, Fox News Chief National Correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported.
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The units — including SEAL Team 6 and Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) — trace their origins directly to Operation Eagle Claw, the failed attempt ordered by President Jimmy Carter to free 53 American hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
On April 24-25, 1980 — exactly 46 years before the recent rescue — the mission collapsed amid sandstorms and mechanical failures at a remote desert site known as Desert One. A U.S. helicopter collided with a C-130 transport plane, killing eight American servicemen. The disaster prompted major reforms in U.S. special operations capabilities.
SEAL Team 6, officially known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU, was established in November 1980. JSOC, headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was also formed that year as a direct result of the Eagle Claw failure.
“Incredible coda to this rescue operation for the 2 F15E airmen,” Griffin said. “The very same Special Operations units … are the very same units who performed heroically during this 48 hour rescue operation.”
The recent operation unfolded under conditions that echoed the 1980 mission, including two MC-130 aircraft becoming stuck in wet sand at a makeshift landing strip in Iran, Griffin noted.
The successful rescue marks a poignant historical parallel: elite units born from one of America’s most humiliating military setbacks in Iran returned to the same country decades later to execute a high-risk extraction with precision and success.
good news, bad news; this time it was two c-130s instead of one, but at least, unlike jimmy carter’s failed attempt, there were no fatalities. on the american side.