In the six-day siege that followed, however, it wasn’t the well-dressed terrorists who made their name. Instead, it was the black-clad gunmen of Britain’s SAS, whose storming of the embassy ...

Four months after the siege, Iraq began an unprovoked war against Iran. With Western and Soviet support and weapons, Saddam’s aim was to collapse the regime of his neighbour.

Patrick Cockburn notes in his account of the Iranian embassy siege in 1980 that the SAS assault was broadcast live on television (LRB, 17 April).It might be added that the coverage had so many viewers ...