The Siege

Nick Day's Review

It was the spring of 1980 when six heavily armed gunman barged into the Iranian embassy in London, taking twenty-six hostages. What followed helped define Margaret Thatcher's tenure as the prime minister of Great Britain and brought international recognition to the SAS special forces unit of the United Kingdom. It also contributed to the ongoing Iranian Middle Eastern political complexities that resonate across the globe today.

Coverage of this story of the Iranian Siege is not new. While there are numerous documentaries, books and films on this momentous event, Ben Macintyre has drawn upon a treasure trove of secret and unseen source material and interviews to write this book. These unique minute-by-minute records from the hostages, police and SAS offer a fresh and unique perspective on the Iranian Siege, while also pulling together the intricate political history surrounding the event.

Ben Macintyre delves into the origins of this narrative: the 1953 Iranian coup, carried out by the United States and Britain, tracing its repercussions to the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the ongoing animosity towards the West. Against this backdrop, Macintyre introduces a mysterious Iraqi dictator, an armed liberation movement from Arabistan, Mukhabarat spies, international terrorist leaders, the formidable Iron Lady, traces of Iranian disdain for Britain, and the bravado of an elite SAS team striving for validation. All these elements combine to create a thrilling and captivating read, with Macintyre's writing on the final Eleven Minutes of the operation grippingly building up to an explosive climax. Highly recommended.

Publisher's Review 

Britain's best-selling historian writes the first definitive account of the famous televised SAS storming of the Iranian embassy in London in 1980.

On April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens. A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, while the SAS - hitherto an organisation shrouded in secrecy - laid plans for a daring rescue mission- Operation Nimrod.

Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews with the SAS, and testimony from witnesses including hostages, negotiators, intelligence officers and the on-site psychiatrist, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes readers on a gripping journey from the years and weeks of build-up on both sides, to the minute-by-minute account of the siege and rescue.

Recreating the dramatic conversations between negotiators and hostages, the cutting-edge intelligence work happening behind-the-scenes, and the media frenzy around this moment of international significance, The Siege is the remarkable story of what really happened on those fateful six days, and the first full account of a moment that forever changed the way the nation thought about the SAS - and itself.