Former PM in secret plea to free American hostages in Tehran

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made a secret plea to Iran’s leader to free US hostages in Tehran after the rescue of Iranians from a London embassy siege, newly released files showed yesterday.

British official records show how Baroness Thatcher used the successful storming of the Iranian embassy in London in 1980 by British elite forces to seek the release of Americans who were taken hostage inside the US embassy in Tehran.

In a secret message, Baroness Thatcher urged supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to release the 52 Americans as a “gesture of goodwill” to the men from elite force the SAS who had freed the Iranians.

The Americans were taken hostage in November 1979, captured when supporters of Khomeini’s Islamic republic overran the American embassy in Tehran after the US agreed to admit the deposed Shah of Iran.

They had already been held hostage for five months by the time six gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy in London in April, 1980, and took 26 hostages.

American efforts to free their nationals had suffered a setback when a rescue attempt ended in failure with the crashing of a US helicopter and the death of eight US servicemen.

In the successful storming of the Iranian embassy in London on May 5, which saw five of the terrorists killed for the loss of only two Iranian hostages, British diplomats saw a chance to help their friends in Washington.

In a carefully crafted message, Baroness Thatcher – Prime Minister of Britain at the head of a Conservative government from 1979 to 1990 – stressed she was not trying to draw a parallel between the situation in Tehran and London.