What Happened
Background
Storming the Embassy
Aftermath
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| Operation Nimrod > Storming |
SAS Storming of the Iranian Embassy
The Special Air Service (SAS) had been deployed in the area since the first few hours of the siege, and were therefore able to move quickly. The SAS were well-prepared, having used fiber-optic probes inserted through the wall of an adjacent building, and microphones, to gain intelligence on the situation inside the embassy. Additionally, SAS troops had practised storming a mock-up of the embassy building.
To cover the noise of SAS troops moving into position, the flight paths of planes approaching Heathrow Airport were lowered, and British Gas began noisily drilling in an adjacent street.
The assault on the embassy began at 7:23pm, just 23 minutes after the body of Abbas Lavasani had been thrown from the building. During the assault, 5 of the 6 terrorists were killed, and 19 of the remaining 20 hostages were saved (1 hostage was shot by a terrorist).
These events were broadcast on British TV in a 45 minute news flash, reported live and unscripted by the then relatively unknown journalist Kate Adie, while she crouched behind a car door.
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| World War II |
| Operation Barbarossa 1941 German Invasion of Russia |
| Operation Citadel 1943 The Battle of Kursk |
| Operation Dragoon 1944 Invasion of southern France |
| Operation Varsity 1945 Crossing the Rhine |
| Invasions That Never Were |
| Operation Sealion 1940 German invasion of England |
| Operation Olympic 1945 US invasion of southern Japan |
| Operation Coronet 1946 US invasion of northern Japan |
| Special Forces |
| Operation Entebbe 1976 Entebbe Airport Rescue |
| Operation Nimrod 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege |
| British Cold War Operations |
| Operation Musketeer 1956 Suez Crisis |
| Operation Corporate 1982 Falklands War |
| Operation Black Buck 1982 Vulcan raids on Port Stanley |
| Operation Granby 1990-91 Persian Gulf |
| British Post Cold War |
| Operation Herrick 2002- Afghanistan |