Operation Eagle Claw's anniversary

It has been 30 years since the US undertook Operation Eagle Claw - a failed military mission to rescue 52 diplomats and embassy staff taken hostage in Iran.

About 90 commandoes, eight helicopters and six aircraft landed in the Iranian desert on the first stage of the mission, but an accident resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers and it was called off.

The hostage crisis lasted for another year after "divine intervention", as some Iranians say, stopped Eagle Claw.

The anniversary comes amid rising tensions between the US and Iran.

Al Jazeera Alireza Ronaghi reports from Tehran.

[April 25, 2010]