The Siege

FROM THE NO. 1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SAS: ROGUE HEROES AND THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR. DISCOVER THE STORY OF THE SIX DAYS THAT SHOOK THE NATION!

April 30, 1980. Six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy in London, taking 26 people hostage.

A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British history. Six days in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, and the SAS laid plans for a daring rescue mission.

Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews, and witness testimony, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre tells the dramatic story in full for the first time - from the years and weeks of build-up on both sides, to the minute-by-minute of the rescue.

The Siege is the remarkable story of what really happened on those fateful six days, of a moment that forever changed the way the nation thought about the SAS, and itself, forever.

'Masterly . . . it has never been recounted so pleasurably as it has been here' New York Times

'Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else' John Preston

Ben Macintyre, Sunday Times bestseller, August 2023