An event that ended an era

As Ben Macintyre’s gripping account of the Iranian embassy siege is released, former foreign secretary Jack Straw reflects on the impact of the crisis on our own special forces, and at how it laid the ground for the Iranian regime we know today

- Jack Straw

His only weapon was a revolver. As he was having a coffee in the vestibule between the inner and outer front doors, men armed with submachine guns blasted their way in.

I was a fresh young MP, just 12 months in the Commons. Margaret Thatcher was in her first year as prime minister. For the first time for an incident of this kind, there was live coverage of the siege by every British TV channel – BBC One, BBC Two, and ITV, who all interrupted their normal schedules.

In the 44 years since the siege, there have been feature films and scores of books on the drama. But none compares with the depth and excellence of Ben Macintyre’s book. With his welldeserved reputation for covering the murky world of espionage and security, and the trust he has engendered within the special forces and the intelligence agencies, he has gained unrivalled access to many of the key participants in the drama who are still alive.

The result is the definitive account of what happened. Despite my clear recollection of the events, Macintyre’s narrative is so gripping that I literally could not put the book down.

The SAS rescue itself took “roughly the time it takes to cook a hard-boiled egg” – just 11 minutes. The SAS men who went into the embassy building were as well prepared as any special forces in the world. But the risks of failure were still very high.

Despite covert microphones and other surveillance devices, the hostages were not where the rescuers expected them to be. The atmosphere in the building was thick from the explosives the soldiers had used to gain access, and from CS gas. Some of the troops’ gas masks did not seal properly. The rope of the team leader abseiling down the embassy walls snagged, leaving him dangling 10ft above his landing point.