The gunmen, Iranian Arabs campaigning for sovereignty of Khuzestan Province , 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. During the minute raid they rescued all but one of the remaining hostages and killed five of the six hostage-takers. An inquest cleared the SAS of any wrongdoing. 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. The embassy building, damaged by a fire which started during the assault, was not reopened until 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 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, [ note 1 ] suppression of the Arab sovereignty movement was the spark that led to his desire 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. They claimed they had met by chance on the flight.
