The Siege of the Iranian Embassy Essay -- Papers

The Siege of the Iranian Embassy On April 30th 1980 a six man Iraqi terrorist group burst into the Iranian embassy. The embassy in Princes Gate, London, contained 20 people, which included a police constable. The terrorist wanted the release of 91 political prisoners from jail in Iran and a plane for them to escape. If their demands were not met they would execute all the hostages and blow up the Embassy. The Metropolitan Police invited B Squadron, 22 SAS onto the scene. Within hours of the siege starting they had set up observation posts and where monitoring the terrorists. Major Jeremy Phipps who had been in the SAS for 15 years, and had fought in Borneo and Oman now commanded B squadron. He started developing plans to break into the embassy and free the hostages. A high-ranking group of government ministers and officials decided that it would be best to negotiate. For five days the SAS practiced their plans for the siege as the negotiations dragged on. On May 5th the terrorists' patience cracked and they shot dead a hostage, Abbas Lavasani. Listening devices inserted by the SAS picked up the terrorist plans, which included killing more hostages. The time for talk was over. The order to attack came from the top, the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 'The Iron Lady'. The police handed responsibility for the operation to the SAS at 19:07. Fourteen minutes later the assault began, operation 'Nimrod' was now underway. Four SAS men broke into the front of the Embassy after jumping over an adjoining balcony. They blew out the armoured windows with a 'frame charge' (A long strip of C4 explosives). An eight-strong rear team abseile... ...re hostages might have died. The demands could have been met but this would leave the door open for further terrorist demands. The SAS had to protect the innocent and they did it. Even though some of the terrorists could have been arrested there was no practical way of doing this without them still being a risk to the hostages and SAS members. 39 bullets is a lot to kill one man, but if fired from more than one soldier in the heat of battle 39 isn't that many. Terrorists are dangerous; they have a single aim and their target has to be met without regard to life or property. Terrorists lose their right to a fair trial when they use innocent people in an attempt to get their demands meet. I believe the actions of the SAS and the fact that they are still active and operational allows people like us to sleep soundly.