UK pulls embassy staff out Iran and Iraq amid danger to British personnel after Qasem Soleimani assassination

BRITAIN has began pulling staff out of its embassies in Iran and Iraq following the assassination of a top Iranian general.

The Foreign Office is reducing staffing levels at the bases to minimal after the airstrike on General Qasem Soleimani put Iran and the US on the brink of war.

The withdrawal of the diplomats from both countries is a precautionary step while the ambassadors – Rob Macaire in Tehran and Stephen Hickey in Baghdad – will remain in place.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “The safety and security of our staff is of paramount importance and we keep our security posture under regular review.

“Both our Embassies in Baghdad and Tehran remain open.”

Iran has threatened to kill British soldiers in revenge attacks following the death of General Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike last week in Baghdad.

Furious Iranians mourned Gen Soleimani, who was the second-most powerful man in Iran, yesterday.

Tehran said the numbers were the biggest since the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.

Gen Soleimani spearheaded Iranian military operations in the Middle East as head of the country’s elite Quds Force.

BRITS TROOPS ‘COLLATERAL DAMAGE’

A senior commander in the Quds Force told The Times British soldiers could be “collateral damage”.

It comes as the UK’s former head of the navy Lord West of Spithead warned Britain was a “softer target” than the US for an Iranian retaliatory attack.

It comes just two days after Brits were told to urgently flee Iraq amid growing tensions.

The Foreign Office escalated its warnings over travel to the Middle East after the drone strike ordered by Donald Trump.

The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on Thursday.

He will also sit down with his French and German counterparts earlier in the week following the crisis.

The Foreign Office said anyone in Iraq outside the Kurdistan Region should consider leaving immediately because the “uncertain” security situation “could deteriorate quickly”.

It also advised against “all but essential travel” to Iran.

Boris Johnson has also tried to distance Britain from the US as Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric against Iran, threatening to target cultural sites.

It is also understood that the foreign office has entered “crisis mode” in the wake of the Soleimani killing.

This is a formal status that typically happens during an emergency situation.

In this instance, it means staff working on the Iran-US situation are operating out of a crisis centre at the foreign office’s headquarters on Whitehall.