Editing Iranian Embassy siege (section)

==Background==
===Motives===
{{Main|1979 Khuzestan insurgency}}

The hostage-takers were members of the [[Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan]] (DRFLA), Iranian Arabs protesting for the establishment of an autonomous Arab state in the southern region of the Iranian province of [[Khūzestān Province|Khūzestān]]<ref name="p15">Fremont-Barnes, p. 15.</ref> which is home to an Arabic-speaking minority. The oil-rich area had become the source of much of Iran's wealth, having been developed by multi-national companies during the reign of the [[Shah]].<ref name="p15"/>

According to Oan Ali Mohammed,{{refn|Also spelt "Awn", codenamed "Salim" by the police.<ref name="fear"/>|group=note}} suppression of the Arab sovereignty movement was the spark that led to his desire to attack the Iranian Embassy in London. The plan was inspired by the [[Iran hostage crisis]] in which supporters of the revolution held the staff of the American Embassy in Tehran hostage.<ref name="in depth">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/iranian_embassy_siege/720640.stm|title=In Depth: Iran and the hostage-takers|date=26 April 2000|publisher=[[BBC News]]|access-date=23 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="p15"/><ref>''Siege!'', p. 1.</ref>

===Arrival in London===
Using Iraqi passports, Oan and three other members of the DRFLA arrived in London on 31 March 1980 and rented a flat in [[Earl's Court]], West London. They claimed they had met by chance on the flight. Over the following days, the group swelled, with up to a dozen men in the flat on one occasion.<ref>''Siege!'', pp. 1–4.</ref>

[[File:16 Princes Gate.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Photograph|The front of the Iranian embassy in 2008]]

Oan was 27 and from Khūzestān; he had studied at the [[University of Tehran]], where he became politically active. He had been imprisoned by [[SAVAK]], the Shah's [[secret police]], and bore scars which he said were from torture in SAVAK custody. The other members of his group were Shakir Abdullah Radhil, known as "Faisal", Oan's second-in-command who also claimed to have been tortured by SAVAK; Shakir Sultan Said, or "Hassan"; Themir Moammed Hussein, or Abbas; [[Fowzi Badavi Nejad]], or "Ali"; and Makki Hanoun Ali, the youngest of the group, who went by the name of "Makki".<ref>''Siege!'', pp. 7–8.</ref><ref>Firm & Pearson, p. VIII.</ref>

On 30 April the men informed their landlord that they were going to [[Bristol]] for a week and then returning to Iraq, stated that they would no longer require the flat, and arranged for their belongings to be sent to Iraq. They left the building at 09:30 ([[British Summer Time|BST]]) on 30 April.<ref name="10–13"/> Their initial destination is unknown, but en route to the Iranian Embassy they collected firearms (including pistols and [[submachine gun]]s), ammunition and hand grenades. The weapons, predominantly Soviet-made, are believed to have been smuggled into the United Kingdom in a [[diplomatic bag]] belonging to Iraq.<ref>Fremont-Barnes, p. 18.</ref> Shortly before 11:30, and almost two hours after vacating the nearby flat in [[Lexham Gardens]] in [[South Kensington]], the six men arrived outside the embassy.<ref name="10–13">''Siege'', pp. 10–13.</ref>

According to a 2014 academic study into the [[Iran–Iraq War]] (which broke out later in 1980), the attackers were "recruited and trained" by the Iraqi government as part of a campaign of subversion against Iran, which included sponsorship of several separatist movements.<ref>Murray & Woods, p. 46.</ref>

===Special Air Service===
The [[Special Air Service]] (SAS) is a regiment of the [[British Army]] and part of the United Kingdom's [[special forces]], originally formed in the Second World War to conduct irregular warfare.<ref>Fremont-Barnes, pp. 6–7.</ref> Western European governments were prompted to form specialist police and military counter-terrorist units following the [[Munich massacre]] at the 1972 Olympic Games, during which a police operation to end a hostage crisis ended in chaos. In the resulting firefight, a police officer, most of the hostage-takers, and all of the hostages were killed. In response, West Germany created [[GSG 9]], which was quickly followed by the French [[GIGN]].

Following these examples, the British government, worried that the country was unprepared for a similar crisis in the United Kingdom, ordered the formation of the Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) Wing of the SAS. This became the UK's primary anti-terrorist and anti-hijacking unit. The SAS had taken part in counter-insurgency operations abroad since 1945, and had trained the bodyguards of influential people whose deaths would be contrary to British interests. Thus, it was believed to be better prepared for the role than any unit in the police or elsewhere in the armed forces. The CRW Wing's first operational experience was the storming of [[Lufthansa Flight 181]] in 1977, when a small detachment of soldiers were sent to assist GSG 9, the elite West German police unit set up after the events of 1972.<ref>Fremont-Barnes, pp. 8–10.</ref><ref>Neville (2017), pp. 4–6.</ref><ref>Neville (2016), pp. 7–9.</ref>