On the morning of November 4, 1979, enraged Iranian student protestors began scaling the brick walls of the U.S. embassy compound on Takht-e-Jamshid Avenue in Tehran. Iranian security officials positioned to protect the compound did nothing to block the entering mob. The protestors thus seized the embassy and held hostage more than fifty Americans. The radical university students, including the future president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, were motivated by a desire to strike a blow against the “Great Satan,” but also to help push aside the secular moderate elements who were competing for power since the pro-American shah of shahs, Mohammad Raza Pahlavi, had been ousted earlier in the year. As the blindfolded Americans were led out of the chancery building, a jubilant crowd shouted, God is Great! and Death to America!

Over the next several months, American diplomats failed to secure the release of their compatriots, who would not be freed until January 20, 1981, 444 days after their capture and the day that President Jimmy Carter left office and Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. At the same time as the seemingly fruitless talks continued, American military planners hatched a rescue mission code-named Eagle Claw that would use the newly created elite counterterrorism unit, the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, or simply Delta Force. Intense training and planning ensued in the United States, Egypt, and Oman to get the mission ready for action.