The embassy was the site of the 1980
Iranian Embassy siege in which members of the Iranian-Arab nationalist group, the
Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan, seized the building for several days before being overrun by the
SAS. The embassy was severely damaged during the siege and did not re-open until 1993. Between 2011 and 2014, Iranian interests in the UK were represented by the
Omani Embassy.
Anglo-Iranian relations have improved since the election of
President Hassan Rouhani and the countries made plans to re-open the embassy. On 20 February 2014, the Embassy was restored and the two countries agreed to restart
diplomatic relations. On 9 March 2018, four people from
Khoddam Al-Mahdi were arrested after climbing onto the first-floor balcony of the Embassy and taking down the Iranian flag in an apparent protest against the government in Tehran due to the arrest of the Islamic scholar
Hussein al-Shirazi in
Qom three days earlier. On 25 September 2022, there were angry protests outside the Embassy, mostly by the
Iranian diaspora in the United Kingdom, following the
death of Mahsa Amini in police custody on 16 September. Demonstrators waved the
Lion and Sun flag and chanted
"Death to the Islamic Republic". Five
Metropolitan Police officers were injured and twelve arrests were made. On 10 January 2026, a demonstrator part of a solidarity protest associated with the
2025–2026 Iranian uprising tore down the embassy's
flag of the Islamic republic and replaced it with the
Lion and Sun flag. The demonstrator was later arrested for aggravated trespass. On 8 March 2026, around 200 demonstrators gathered outside the embassy in central London during protests to express support for United States and Israeli military strikes on Iran, while officers from the
Metropolitan Police supervised the protest. ==Gallery==