 During the day , the Foreign Office held further talks with diplomats from Arabian countries in the hope of persuading them to go to the embassy and talk to the hostage @-@ takers . The talks , hosted by Douglas Hurd , ended in stalemate . The diplomats insisted they must be able to offer safe passage out of the UK for the gunmen , believing this to be the only way to guarantee a peaceful outcome , but the British government was adamant that safe passage would not be considered under any circumstances . <unk> , through whom Oan had issued his revised demands the previous day , became increasingly ill throughout the day and by the evening was feverish , which led to suggestions that the police had spiked the food that had been sent into the embassy . John Dellow , the commander of the police operation , had apparently considered the idea and even consulted a doctor about its viability , but eventually dismissed it as " impracticable " . 
