Photos: BBC On May 5, 1980, a six-day siege at the Iranian embassy ended after a dramatic raid by Special Air Service commandos that freed 19 hostages.
Members of the London Fire Brigade entered the building to extinguish flames ignited by military explosives while police evacuated the hostages.
Five gunmen and one hostage died in the shootout.
The attackers belonged to a group opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini, the religious leader who came to power in Iran in 1979, according to the BBC.
