The Iranian Embassy Siege (1980) Day 1-5

[Music] operation Nimrod the Iranian embassy siege 1980 location the Iranian embassy South Kensington London on May 5th 1980 the world witnessed a spectacular hostage rescue mission in the Iranian embassy in London after five days of the hostage crisis the rescue action was conducted by the famous British unit trained for special tasks the Special Air Service better known as the SAS the action known as Operation Nimrod was an example of a superb counter-terrorist operation as it resulted in five of the six terrorists being eliminated and one captured and only one casualty among the 26 hostages during the assault the Iranian embassy siege began on Wednesday April 30th 1980 when six members of the so-called Democratic Revolutionary front for the liberation of Erebus dan or dr fla stormed the iranian embassy at sixteen princes gate south kensington london UK the reason behind the attack was because of the oppression of the arab population in the oil wealthy province of Khuzestan or arabistan as it was called by the arabs by the new Iranian regime led by Ayatollah Khomeini the attack on the embassy in London was to get the attention of the world and especially Arab countries towards their issue the terrorists arrived in London one month earlier on March 31st the leader of the DeLuca's Oh an ally Mohammed or Salim Tokai an Arab political activist from Iran and the only member of the group that spoke English during the one month preparation the terrorists equipped themselves with weapons that were smuggled into the United Kingdom likely via an Iraqi diplomatic shipment Owen and his associates were armed with two Polish made scorpion machine pistols three browning hp-35 pistols loaded with nine millimeter Winchester hollow-point ammunition one 38 caliber revolver and several Soviet rgd five grenades day one at 1125 hours the group slammed the door and captured the police constable Trevor Locke from the diplomatic protection group constable Locke had his radio taken but only after he managed to press the panic button without being noticed sending an emergency signal to Scotland Yard besides he managed to keep his 38 caliber revolver secret from the terrorists in just a few minutes the terrorists took control the entire building taking 26 hostages 17 of them were Iranian members of the embassy staff eight of them were visitors and constable walk among the visitors the to BBC employees sim Harris and Chris Kramer the hostages were gathered and undeclared their demands autonomy for Arava Stan the release of 91 Arab prisoners from Iranian prisons as well as a plane to fly themselves and the hostages out of the UK the deadline to meet the demands was sent to noon May first under the threat that the whole embassy would be blown up alerted by the panic button on constable Locke's radio the Metropolitan Police responded immediately in just a few minutes Deputy Assistant Commissioner John de l'eau appeared in front of the embassy and establish an improvised command post in his car as the situation developed the post was moved to the building of the Royal School of needlework and then to the nearby Montessori nursery school the first thing the police did after sealing the area was to establish a contact with Iran by the field telephone that was dropped inside the embassy the field telephone was chosen as it would continue to record conversations even when it was not being used Metropolitan Police Chief Inspector max Vernon became the negotiator on the other end soon after the place was filled with an entire army of journalists and TV crews the British authorities quickly became aware of the seriousness of the situation a crisis management team gathered in the Cabinet Office briefing room also known as Cobra chaired by William white law the Home Secretary as the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was unavailable Cobra agreed that the police were to lead the negotiations but in case of hostages being harmed the army would step in that is the SAS would commence a military assault even though the peaceful solution was that priority the British government was determined not to give in to the terrorists and in no case allow them to flee the country the British also had to count on the fact that there wasn't the slightest possibility that the Iranian government would give in to the terrorists demands the Iranian government was also eager to use the situation in their favor and to portray the captured embassy personnel as martyrs in the afternoon the hostage takers would release an ill hostage freedom Oh Safari on a press officer day 2 on May 1st to SAS teams red and blue arrived at the region's parks barracks and white Range Rovers and then they moved into the building at number 14 through 15 that belonged to the Royal College of General Practitioners that was next door to the embassy to remain unnoticed the SAS sneaked into the building through back alleys under the cover of night the other building right next to the terrorists the residents of the Ethiopian embassy was occupied by mi5 technicians who were assigned to eavesdrop on the terrorists they did it with the help of microphones put inside holes in walls they drilled with small hand drills as a distraction for the noise they made by the drills passenger aircraft landing at Heathrow were redirected to fly at a low altitude over the embassy inside the embassy on was having difficulty with another ill hostage Chris Kramer since his condition was worsening with each passing minute and police were not willing to send in a doctor no one had no choice but to release him the first thing Chris Kramer did once he was free was to give information to the police about the hostage takers the most important moment of the day was noon when the deadline was set for the Arab prisoners to be released however as nothing happened when postponed the deadline to 1400 hours the British authorities were certain that Iran was not ready to fulfill his threats and intentionally let the second deadline pass as well after the second deadline passed it became evident that they were right Owen also realized that his demands were never going to be met and decided to change them his new demands were that three ambassadors from three Arab countries Iraq Jordan in Algeria should come and serve as mediators for the terrorists safe passage from the UK day three the third day of the hostage crisis brought about nothing but new demands set by Iran otherwise he would kill Abdul Fuzzy's izzati the cultural attache since the police refused to reinstall previously cut off telephone and telex lines Owen asked for a man from the BBC who knew Harris one of his hostages to dictate him his demands at 1500 hours Tony Crabb editor of BBC TV news arrived to note down Owens demands these were the arrival of one Arab man bassinger as negotiator a coach for the terrorists hostages and ambassador to be taken to Heathrow Airport for non Iranian hostages to be released at the airport and finally an aircraft to take the terrorists ambassador and the rest of the hostages to one of the Arab countries presumably Iraq with the remaining hostages would be released one requested that these demands should be broadcast by the BBC on the evening news later that evening BBC radio only briefly broadcasted the terrorists demands and even misinterpreted them Oh on was furious day for [Music] a zero six or five hours on May third one yelled at Vernon by the field telephone line about being cheated he demanded Tony crab from the BBC to return in order to take new notes on his demands our hostage would be killed this time the police had no choice but to give in to owens demands at 1530 hours crab appeared and after being reprimanded by his hostage friend harris he took notes exactly as Owen told him police negotiator Vernon ensured Owen his demands would be broadcasted in his exact words in return he asked Iran to release two hostages which he agreed as arranged the first hostage a pregnant woman named Hyatt congi was released before the demands were broadcasted by the BBC radio and the second le gweal gun safar pakistani tourist was released after the news demands were broadcasted by Scotland Yard's head of information word-for-word even though the police seem to have things under control preparations for the military assault were still in progress at 2300 hours at SAS team moved quietly across the rooftops to reach the roof of the Iranian embassy once there they spotted a skylight that could serve as a potential entry point on the back end of the roof SAS soldiers secured the abseil ropes for entry through the windows day 5 broadcasting their demands was a small victory for the terrorists and definitely improved their mood on day 5 of the siege they received the news that the Arab ambassadors agreed to meet the British in order to solve the crisis as a sign of goodwill they let another hostage go the journalist Mustafa Carr Kuti Cobra on the other hand didn't have any hopes that the crisis would end in a peaceful manner the SAS made detailed plans to storm the embassy and were ready to drop in at any moment you you

Channel: Simple History

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Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, operation nimrod, london, iranaina embassy siege, 1980, sas, british, John Dellow, negotiations, Max Vernon, COBR, special forces, Chris Kramer, sim harris, bbc, 6 days, british army, siege, embassy, mp5, famous, Margaret Thatcher, abseiled

Id: plEm4bv5ByQ

Length: 10min 26sec (626 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 21 2019