Birjand, April 16, IRNA � A commemorative stamp, printed to mark the 1980 anniversary of the US fiasco in the desert of Tabas, northeast of Iran, and the national ID card issued for Martyr Mohammad Montazer-Ghaem, will be unveiled on April 24, Commander of IRGC's Basij Resistance in Tabas announced.


Montazer-Ghaem, the first commander of the Yazd Army, was the only Iranian who was martyred during the disaster.

Colonel Mehdi Sadegh-Ahmadi told reporters that other programs will also be held on the anniversary to commemorate the defeat of the US military operation.

Operation Eagle Claw was ordered by the then US President Jimmy Carter to attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis by rescuing 52 embassy staff held captive at the US Embassy in Tehran on 24 April 1980. Its failure, and the humiliating public debacle that ensued, damaged US prestige worldwide.

The operation encountered many obstacles and was eventually aborted. Eight helicopters were sent to the first staging area, Desert One, but only five arrived in operational condition. One encountered hydraulic problems, another got caught in a cloud of very fine sand, and the last one showed signs of a cracked rotor blade.

As the U.S. force prepared to leave, one of the helicopters crashed into a transport aircraft which contained both servicemen and jet fuel. The resulting fire destroyed both aircraft and killed eight servicemen and the whole operation failed disastrously.

By IRNA