Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 7 January (HL Deb, col 258) and the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 21 January (HL523), whether the military operation on 3 January which killed General Soleimani met the test of imminence for the purposes of self-defence in international law.

Article 51 of the UN Charter recognises that all States have an inherent right of self-defence. The strike against Soleimani was not a UK operation. It is for the United States to say how the criteria for self-defence are met, and you will be aware that the United States set out the basis for its action in a letter to the UN Security Council dated 8 January 2020.