Started a riot as a diversion. Took an overland route to Turkey. Really a helluva story. Check out Ken Follett’s book.
I don’t know if Carter “botched” the rescue plan. If anything he was listening to his military commanders when they told him that he should call the mission off because some of the aircraft were malfunctioning. It was when everyone was trying to leave did the accident happen. Just imagine what would’ve happened if they got the hostages out and then couldn’t fly them out? Operation Desert Claw was just too ambitious, relying on too many factors such as malfunctioning equipment, the fact that the CIA didn’t have any assets in Tehran, the fact that all of the branches wanted in on the rescue regardless of the fact that they had never even worked together before, the pilots had no training operating with special forces, and the fact that they couldn’t even practice the raid because of Soviet spy satellites and possible leaks. Let’s not even forget that a bus full of Iranians had to be held because they came across Delta Force in the middle of the desert.