Pictures of SAS soldiers abseiling down the walls of the Iranian Embassy moments before they rescued hostages inside have become synonymous with the regiment.
But ahead of Tuesday’s 40th anniversary of the assault, which made the elite regiment a household name, rarely seen images of a different part of the daring mission have emerged – and nor was that without its own intense drama.
Our pictures show the 19 freed hostages being funnelled through the smoke out of the embassy in central London and into the safety of a holding area in the garden of the building next door.
In new, exclusive pictures, hostages are seen lying on the ground behind number 14 and 15 Princess Gate, otherwise known as the Royal College of Gen practitioners, next door to the Iranian Embassy. Members of the SAS are seen in all-black military equipment, while one of the terrorists, Fowzi Nejad lies on the ground (bottom right, wearing white trousers)
This picture shows members of Special Air Service (SAS), a special regiment of the British Armed Forces, beginning their assault on the Iranian Embassy. The assault was known as ‘operation nimrod’, and lasted 17 minutes. They rescued all but one of the remaining hostages
There, members of the SAS – motto ‘Who Dares Wins’ – told them not to move, and handcuffed, searched and identified them.
But as they were doing so and the hostages were lying face down on the grass as ordered, it emerged that one of the terrorists, Fowzi Nejad, was among them – trying to pass himself off as a hostage.
Thankfully, he was spotted by one of the hostages, Sim Harris, a BBC sound recordist who had been inside the embassy waiting for a visa.
The SAS set off smoke generators at the rear of the building to cover the assault by the SAS soldiers and their following escape with the hostages
One of the hostages runs from the embassy past a member of the Metropolitan Police with a police dog
BBC man Sim Harris, in the light grey jacket, escapes the Iranian Embassy. This photo was likely taken as soon as the hostages had been rescued from the embassy
Mr Harris, who can be seen running towards the garden and later lying on the grass in our pictures, pointed and shouted from his prone position: ‘He is one of them!’
SAS members, wearing what they refer to as ‘the black kit’ and armed with Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns and a back-up weapon of a Browning Hi-Power handgun, swiftly acted and captured Nejad.
Yesterday Rusty Firmin, who was a lance corporal leading the SAS Blue Team which charged the rear of the embassy, said Nejad can be seen in our images lying on his back on the path at what was then the headquarters of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Mr Firmin, now 70, said: ‘Nejad is face up, probably so he can be identified. The guys in black next to Nejad are about to search him and handcuff him. One will search and the others will cover him while doing so in case he has a weapon.’
Rusty Firmin, pictured, was a lance corporal leading the SAS Blue Team which charged the rear of the embassy
When they stormed the embassy, the SAS team killed the other five dissidents from the Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan, a group that opposed the Iranian regime led by Ayatollah Khomeini.
Nejad was later jailed for life for conspiracy to murder, false imprisonment and manslaughter.
But following his release in 2008, British authorities ruled they could not deport him because it would breach the Human Rights Act. He is believed to have survived on handouts while living in council accommodation in London.
The six-day siege of the embassy at Princes Gate, South Kensington, began on April 30 and ended on May 5, 1980, when the SAS stormed it on the orders of then prime minister Margaret Thatcher after the dissidents killed a hostage and dumped his body out of the front door.