WI: Iranian hostage crisis

You can bet there would be a lighting-fast Spetsnaz raid on the embassy resulting in all dead hostage-takers, thus a message to Iran:don't mess with Russia or even America!
 
If the Soviets actively invaded Iran because they took their embassy hostage, I'm pretty sure the US would actually give secret support to the Iranians, which is ironic when you think about it. XD

OR if the Soviets wished to avoid such things, then yeah... a buncha Spetsnaz would probably be sent in, and the world would only hear about it a day or two later. Granted... that's if it all went smoothly. Just because you send in your best doesn't always mean they'll get the job done, it's not a forgone conclusion.

If it goes smoothly, then yeah it'd be pretty epic. If it doesn't, then the Iranians have even BIGGER hostages.

Now if the Iranians had taken both American and Soviet hostages... oh shit. o_o
 
Let's just say that the Soviet response would be more...forthright than that of the US. As was seen in Lebanon the only time Hezbollah thought it might be amusing to kidnap Soviet nationals.
 

Swordman

Banned
I was about to bring that up. Apparently it was pretty...grisly.

As I understand the situation back then, the Russians grabbed up a few relatives of the kidnappers. The kidnappers were persuaded to release their hostages after they received certain parts of their family members in the mail; namely ears, thumbs and noses.
Say what you want about the Russians, they sure knew how to make a point.

Mike Garrity
 
The story I've heard was that four Soviet Embassy employees (allegedly GRU people) were kidnapped, and one murdered. The Soviet response was to shake down their contacts, and found out who was responsible. The GRU then grabbed his brother, and sent him back to the family-one piece at a time. The three survivors were promptly released.
 
Can it be possible that, if the Iranians kidnap US citizens as well, we might see some cooperation between the US and the USSR?

Wouldn't it be interesting to see a North Iran and South Iran?
 
Four words: People's Republic of Iran.

I recall reports of Soviet strikes on Afghan rebel camps in northeast Iran during the Soviet occupation. They didn't dare strike into Pakistan, because of US backing. But with the Soviets hitting Iran, the ayatollahs had no one's shoulder to cry on but Allah's.
 
I recall reports of Soviet strikes on Afghan rebel camps in northeast Iran during the Soviet occupation. They didn't dare strike into Pakistan, because of US backing. But with the Soviets hitting Iran, the ayatollahs had no one's shoulder to cry on but Allah's.

And, if hostages from both embassies are taken, the U.S. might look the other way on Afghanistan or some other issue, provided the Soviets manage to free all of the hostages.
 
And, if hostages from both embassies are taken, the U.S. might look the other way on Afghanistan or some other issue, provided the Soviets manage to free all of the hostages.
I think thats too optimistic. First of all is 1 nation worth a few hostages?

And if America plays hardball how are the Soviets going to negotiate with them? Leave all the Americans behind? Make 'extra sure' only Soviet hostages get out alive? Hold the hostages err... hostage in the Soviet Union? Nobody is going to be able to justify Soviet actions there.

Well i suppose the American hostages might get some interrogation performed but thats liable to happen anyways.
 

Cook

Banned
You can bet there would be a lighting-fast Spetsnaz raid on the embassy resulting in all dead hostage-takers, thus a message to Iran:don't mess with Russia or even America!

These days the general assessment of Russian Spetsnaz of that period is that they weren’t all that good; they gained a fearsome reputation simply because the British SAS played the role of the Spetsnaz during NATO exercises at the time. Their actual performance in Afghanistan was less than flash.
 
Originally posted by Cook
These days the general assessment of Russian Spetsnaz of that period is that they weren’t all that good; they gained a fearsome reputation simply because the British SAS played the role of the Spetsnaz during NATO exercises at the time. Their actual performance in Afghanistan was less than flash.
It depends what kind of Spetsnaz we're talking about. "Spetsnaz" is Russian name for special forces - any special forces. From Soviet POV SAS was British Spetsnaz, Delta Force, Green Berets and Navy Seals were American Spetsnaz etc. AFAIK in USSR (and now in Russia) there were many Spetsnaz units of various quality, from simply long reconaissance forces or assault infantry to KGB's "Alpha" (which, BTW, would have been used in scenario you describe). Also, Soviet special forces doctrine was not the best (they often considered them a one-time-use units).
Personally I'm more than a little sceptical about Soviet ability to conduct such a raid, especially with little time for planning. OTOH Moscow wouldn't have cared about civilian losses, so if Alpha is in trouble, they can simply call air support and a regiment of Backfire bombers clears the way for them, even if it requires destroying half of Teheran.
 
Top