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The international impact of the ill-fated American venture was the most serious consequence of the operation. As thousands of joyful Iranians rushed again into Tehran's streets to gloat over America's discomfort, Iran edged ever closer to new economic and diplomatic collaboration with the Soviet Union, the menacing neighbor to the north that Khomeini had recently denounced. Handed an irresistible propaganda opening by Carter, the Soviet press made the most of it. TASS accused Carter of an "abortive provocation" that could have caused "mass bloodshed and the death of the hostages"—lives TASS claimed the U.S. President was willing "to sacrifice for his election interests." Carter's misadventure also shifted international attention away from the invasion of Afghanistan and the Soviets' problems in the Muslim world.
America's European Community allies, as well as Japan, officially held their fire in public, but some of their diplomats privately seethed at Carter. They had backed the U.S. only two days before by promising to help isolate Iran economically, not because they thought sanctions would help free the hostages but to preserve an alliance that only the previous week had seemed to be dangerously strained. By going along with the U.S., the allies clearly thought they had secured a guarantee from Carter that he would not make a military move against Iran. Any such action, the allies feared, might endanger a major part of their Middle East oil supplies and make even worse the frigid relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Now they felt betrayed by the President of the U.S. What was more, they were astonished by his timing and the ineptness of the maneuver. Fumed a high official in Bonn: "The incompetence that permeates this Administration is incredible." Said a senior analyst in the French government: "I would feel much better if Carter were to go before the American public now and say, 'Your new President is Walter Mondale.'"
When Jimmy Carter went on television at 7 a.m., Friday, to announce the most surprising event of his presidency, his face was ashen, his mood was grim, but he was unshaken in his determination to press on to secure the release of the hostages, whose six months of captivity have left Carter and his White House aides somehow captives too. Like John Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs, Carter gamely took full blame for the rescue mission's failure. Said he: "It was my decision to attempt the rescue operation. It was my decision to cancel it when problems developed. The responsibility is fully my own."
Carter conceded that "the operation was certain to be difficult and it was certain to be dangerous." But he said the rescue team was "highly trained" and had undergone "repeated rehearsal." He insisted that the operation had "an excellent chance of success." Carter emphasized that the rescue was "a humanitarian mission. It was not undertaken with any feeling of hostility toward Iran or its people. It has caused no Iranian casualties."