Iranian Embassy Siege

History & Significance

The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after a group of six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy on Prince's Gate in South Kensington, London.

The gunmen, Iranian Arabs campaigning for the sovereignty of the Khuzestan Province of Iran, took 26 people hostage, including embassy staff, several visitors, and a police officer who had been guarding the embassy. They demanded the release of prisoners in Khuzestan and their own safe passage out of the United Kingdom. The British government quickly decided that safe passage would not be granted and a siege ensued. Subsequently, police negotiators secured the release of five hostages in exchange for minor concessions, such as the broadcasting of the hostage-takers' demands on British television.

By the sixth day of the siege, the gunmen were increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress in meeting their demands. That evening, they killed a hostage and threw his body out of the embassy. The British Special Air Service (SAS) initiated "Operation Nimrod" to rescue the remaining hostages, abseiling from the roof and forcing entry through the windows. During the 17-minute raid, they rescued all but one of the remaining hostages and killed five of the six hostage-takers. The sole remaining gunman served 27 years in prison in Britain. The operation brought the SAS to the public eye for the first time and bolstered the reputation of Margaret Thatcher's government. The SAS was quickly overwhelmed by the number of applications it received from people inspired by the operation and experienced greater demand for its expertise from foreign governments. Damaged by a fire which started during the assault, the embassy building did not reopen until 1993.

The SAS raid, televised live on a bank holiday evening, became a defining moment in British history and proved a career boost for several journalists; it became the subject of multiple documentaries and works of fiction, including several films, television series and video games.

The hostage-takers were members of the Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan (DRFLA), Iranian Arabs calling for the establishment of an autonomous Arab state in the southern region of the Iranian province of Khuzestan which is home to an Arabic-speaking minority. The oil-rich area had become the source of much of Iran's wealth, having been developed by multi-national companies during the reign of the Shah.

According to Oan Ali Mohammed, it was the suppression of the Arab sovereignty movement that led him to attack the Iranian Embassy in London. The plan was inspired by the Iran hostage crisis in which supporters of the revolution held the staff of the American Embassy in Tehran hostage.

The ground they fought on

The site of Iranian Embassy Siege lies on Thames Group, bedrock that formed in the Eocene. The rock here is clay, silt, sand and gravel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scheduled Monuments near Iranian Embassy Siege

Kensington Palace

Scheduled monument · ~0.7 mi

Kensington Palace is a royal residence located in Kensington Gardens, London, originally constructed as a substantial brick mansion in the late seventeenth century. The building was acquired by William III and Mary II in 1689 and subsequently enlarged by Christopher Wren and other architects, bec…

Steve Cadman from London, U.K. / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Pottery kiln in Walmer Road

Scheduled monument · ~1.8 mi

# Pottery kiln in Walmer Road The Pottery kiln in Walmer Road is a Romano-British ceramic production site located in Middlesex. The kiln dates to the Roman period and represents evidence of local pottery manufacture within the settlement pattern of Roman Britain. The site is designated as a sched…

Warren Bennett / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

The Chapter House and Pyx Chamber in the abbey cloisters, Westminster Abbey

Scheduled monument · ~1.9 mi

The Chapter House and Pyx Chamber in the abbey cloisters, Westminster Abbey, is a significant thirteenth-century monastic structure forming part of the claustral complex. Built in the mid-thirteenth century, the octagonal Chapter House served as the meeting place for the monastic community's admi…

Cmao20 / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

The Jewel Tower

Scheduled monument · ~2 mi

The Jewel Tower is a stone tower standing within the Palace of Westminster complex, dating from the mid-fourteenth century. Built during the reign of Edward III, probably around 1365-1366, it originally served as a secure stronghold for royal treasures and valuables, hence its name. The structure…

No machine-readable author provided. Lonpicman~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Inner Temple Hall Buttery

Scheduled monument · ~2.8 mi

Inner Temple Hall Buttery is a sixteenth-century service building forming part of the Inner Temple precinct in London. The structure dates from approximately 1570 and served the practical function of storing and dispensing provisions for the Inn of Court. It represents an important example of Tud…

Jim Linwood / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Barnard's Inn Hall (Mercers' School)

Scheduled monument · ~2.9 mi

Barnard's Inn Hall is a timber-framed building of fifteenth-century origin located in Gresham Street, London. The hall formerly served as the principal building of Barnard's Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery that provided legal education and accommodation for trainee lawyers during the medieval an…

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• Iranian Embassy Siege · Wikidata
• Iranian_Embassy_siege · Wikipedia