May 5th 1980 marked the end of a six day standoff between a group claiming to be an Arab/Iranian independence group and Embassy officials in London.

It was one of the first times such a drama had been played out almost entirely in the media over the six day period. The details as to why a hostage situation was taking place were a bit fuzzy at first.

Douglas Edwards(CBS News): “The gunmen at the Embassy said they were Arabs from Iran who wanted the government to free 91 Arab political prisoners.”

But as the story unfolded, it became clear the "Iranian Arabs" were actually Iraqi's in what would eventually escalate into a full blown war between Iran and Iraq.

But on this day 30 years ago, the news was about the end of a hostage drama. It's also interesting to note that the day before, news of Yugoslavia's President Tito had died and speculation was rife as to what was going to happen in that particular region.

Both of those stories would develop into major events not anticipated before the decade was over.