Letters | Two years on, the killing of General Soleimani by US air strike still lacks justification

The United States carried out the assassination in Iraq without its permission and despite there being no imminent threat of an armed attack

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An Iranian holds a picture of Qassem Soleimani at a gathering to mourn the deceased general in Tehran, Iran, on January 4, 2020. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:30am, 9 Jan 2022

Two years ago, on January 3, Iranian military general Qassem Soleimani, Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis of the Popular Mobilisation Force and four others were killed by a US air strike on Iraqi soil.

At the Iraqi government’s request, General Soleimani had been appointed by the Iranian government to help the Iraqi and Syrian governments battle against Islamic State and other terrorist groups in the region. In fact, ISIS saw General Soleimani as their number one enemy, and his assassination was an American gift to them.

The US Department of Defence said the “decisive defensive action” had been taken at the direction of then-president Donald Trump because “General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region”, and that the strike “was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans”.

According to Article 51 of the UN Charter, a UN member state can take actions in self-defence if “an armed attack occurs” against it. Customary international law and international jurisprudence say self-defence cannot be invoked either to prevent a threat from arising or in retaliation for past events. It can be applied only against a threat that is already present and “instant, overwhelming and leaving no choice of means, no moment of deliberation”.

In addition to imminence, state action must meet two other requirements under jus ad bellum: necessity and proportionality. Even after two years, the details of the US strike don’t meet these requirements. The Iraqi prime minister said Soleimani was going to meet Iraqi authorities to seek their mediation for de-escalation of tensions in the region.

In any case, the US cannot justify the murder of five other people travelling with him at the time of the drone strike. Those deaths were arbitrary deprivations of life under human rights law and should result in state responsibility and individual criminal liability.