Iran’s defence minister warned the United States on Monday it would suffer a ”disgraceful defeat” if it took military action against the Islamic republic, the official Irna news agency reported.
”If the US chooses the military option, a disgraceful defeat worse than the failure in Tabas desert awaits them,” Mostafa Mohammad Najar said, referring to a failed US attempt in 1980 to rescue American hostages in the seized US embassy in Tehran.
The Iranian minister advised ”militarist officials in the US to once again watch documentaries about the Tabas incident, where their military men burned in a divine wrath”.
On April 25 1980 a commando of 90 US special forces aboard six C-130 cargo planes and eight helicopters headed for Iran to try to free the hostages held at the US embassy in Tehran.
The helicopters were due to land on the lawn of the Shirudi stadium in Tehran, close to the site of the seized embassy, to launch a rescue operation.
The operation turned into a disaster: two helicopters were unable to reach the rendezvous point in the desert, some 400km south-east of Tehran, and another broke down because of a sandstorm.
Then US president Jimmy Carter cancelled the operation and ordered the troops to pull out. But in the manoeuvre, a C-130 collided with a helicopter and caught fire. The survivors then hurried onboard the five other C-130s, abandoning eight bodies and five helicopters.
Iran and the US broke diplomatic relations on April 8 1980 following the taking of US hostages and before the Tabas operation.
”Iranian people, with their revolutionary mentality, will never allow the US to dominate their country again,” the defence minister said.
The United Nations Security Council has given the Islamic republic until next Friday to halt its uranium enrichment activities, seen as cover for a weapons drive. Iran has refused to comply with the demand.
The US is pressing for UN sanctions such as freezes on the assets of Iranian leaders or travel restrictions. US President George Bush has also not ruled out taking military action. — AFP
