Now if the Iranians had taken both American and Soviet hostages... oh shit. o_o
I was about to bring that up. Apparently it was pretty...grisly.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.
I was about to bring that up. Apparently it was pretty...grisly.
What if the Iranians took the Soviet embassy hostage?
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 think thats too optimistic. First of all is 1 nation worth a few 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.
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!
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).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.