Today marks the 44th anniversary of the “failed attempt to rescue 53 hostages from the US Embassy in Tehran [that] resulted in the death of five US Air Force men and three Marines, serious injuries to five other troops, and the loss of eight aircraft. That failure would haunt the US military for years….” Ayatollah Khomeini said, “the American president said that ‘Iran humiliated us.’ This is the first thing, Iran will humiliate you until the end.” Iran celebrates the failure every April 25th.
There is a great deal of informed commentary online about the operation and why/what went wrong (see, e.g., Defense.gov; U.S. Army Airborne and Special Operations Museum; and Special Operations Warrior Foundation).
Things that went wrong A sand or dust storm (Arabic: habūb; pronounced haboob) is common in the Persian Gulf (see satellite image of storm). A sandstorm during the operation impaired visibility for helicopter crews and brought helicopters down. Khomeini and adherents, naturally, claimed the haboob was sent by God (3rd video below).
A conspiracy theory that I have heard is that the U.S. military wanted the mission to fail so that Reagan would be elected. A more reasonable explanation is that the mission had too many delicate working parts—rendezvous in the Tabas Desert of Iran (“Desert One”) after a 600 mile journey from Oman, refuel at Desert One, get to Tehran, get to the embassy surrepitiously, rescue hostages, leave Tehran, then leave Iran—and if “sand got in the gearbox,” one or more of these delicate parts is bound to fail.
Perspectives 
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