On May 5, 1980, the Iranian Embassy siege was ended by Britain's SAS (Special Air Service) with Operation Nimrod. The siege had begun on April 30th when gunmen of the DRFLA (Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan) stormed the Iranian embassy at Princes Gate, South Kensington, London. The DRFLA had taken the people within the embassy hostage as part of their push for the establishment of an independent Arab state in southern Iran. Over the course of five days, negotiations between the British government and the hostage-takers eventually failed and the situation deteriorated until, on May 5th, hostage Abbas Lavasani was killed by the DRFLA. This in turn forced the implementation of Operation Nimrod, assaulting the embassy. Two teams (Blue Team and Red Team) launch simultaneous assaults with Red Team abseiling from the roof and smashing a window to gain entry while Blue Team detonated explosives on the first floor windows. In 17 minutes, the raid was successfully accomplished with the hostages freed and all but one of the terrorists were killed.

The siege brought the British SAS to notability in the public eye for the first time since its establishment during World War II. Though the newfound notoriety was met with disdain by the regiment's members due to their previous obscurity being beneficial to their covert operations, but this new fame vindicated the existence of the SAS and saved it from possible disbandment.