page_title: Premiership of Margaret Thatcher
section_title: Iranian Embassy siege
hierarchical_section_title: Premiership of Margaret Thatcher / First term (1979–1983) / Foreign relations / Iranian Embassy siege
caption_attribution_description: English: The Iranian embassy in London, severely damaged by fire after the Iranian Embassy siegeفارسی: سفارت ایران در لندن که پس از اشغال سفارت ایران در لندن با آتش آسیب دید. العربية: السفارة الإيرانية في لندن ، تركت أثار الحريق بعد حصار السفارة الإيرانية.
context_page_description: Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 4 May 1979 and served until 28 November 1990. She was elected to the position after leading the British Conservative Party since 1975.
  In domestic affairs, Thatcher is best known for her sweeping policies concerning the affairs of the economy, including the privatisation of most nationalised industries. In foreign policy, she fought a war against Argentina and played a key role with US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in ending the Cold War. By the late 1980s, she would alienate several senior members of her Cabinet with her opposition to greater economic integration into the European Community. She also alienated many Conservative voters and members of Parliament with the imposition of a local poll tax. As her support ebbed away, she was challenged for the Conservative Party leadership and persuaded by Cabinet to withdraw from the second round of voting—ending her eleven-year tenure as Prime Minister.
  Although she remains a domestically polarising figure, historians and political scientists generally rank Thatcher as an above-average Prime Minister.
context_section_description: Thatcher's determination to face down political violence was first demonstrated during the 1980 siege of the Iranian embassy in Princes Gate, London, when for the first time in 70 years the armed forces were authorised to use lethal force on the British mainland. For six days in May, 26 hostages were held by six gunmen; the siege came to a dramatic end with a successful raid by SAS commandos. Later that day, Thatcher went to congratulate the SAS men involved and sat among them watching a re-run of the attack. The breaking of the siege by the SAS was later ranked by the public as one of television's greatest moments.
  Her decisiveness—christened the "resolute approach" by the Prime Minister herself—became Thatcher's trademark, and a source of her popularity. In the words of one historian: "The mood reflected Mrs Thatcher's Iron Lady stance, her proclaimed intention of laying the "Suez Syndrome" to rest and again projecting Britain as a great power. Celebration of the SAS was a key component in the popular militarism of the 1980s, fuelled by the continuing "war" against international terrorism and by the Falklands conflict and Gulf War. The storming of the Iranian Embassy had shown that Britain could meet terror with counter-terror: Mrs Thatcher's black-clad "terminators" would protect us".
  Commenting on the SAS's action, Social Services Secretary Norman Fowler agreed: "Mrs Thatcher attracted public support because she seemed to be taking action which the public overwhelmingly thought was right but never thought any government would have the nerve to carry out".
caption: Thatcher's decisive response to the Iranian siege in London won her widespread praise during a difficult period for the British economy.
exif: {}