Nazanin Tabatabaee/West Asia News Agency via Reuters
A funeral procession for Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Iran, on January 6, 2020.
- The UK is stepping up contingency plans to evacuate troops and other British personnel from Iraq.
- The news comes amid growing fears that reprisal attacks from Iran on the US and its allies are imminent.
- It follows the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the influential Iranian military commander, who was killed by a US airstrike in Baghdad last week.
- The US was forced to deny on Monday that it was planning to withdraw soldiers from Iraq after a leaked draft letter from a senior military official suggested it would be preparing troops for "movement out" of the country.
The UK has stepped up emergency plans to evacuate British troops and other military personnel from Iraq amid growing fears of revenge attacks by Iran.
The Ministry of Defence sent around 20 senior military planners and liaison officers to the Baghdad embassy on the weekend, according to a report in the Times.
Defence sources told the newspaper that the risk of reprisal attacks would increase on Tuesday following three days of mourning to mark the death of Qassem Soleimani, the powerful Iranian commander who was killed in a US airstrike at Baghdad airport on Friday.
The British advisers are drawing up plans to evacuate soldiers quickly, the Times reported, and the strategies will be used for diplomats and other civilians if necessary.
The report came as the United States denied that it had plans to withdraw troops from Iraq, despite a leaked draft letter from a senior military official which indicated withdrawal plans were underway.
The letter, drafted by Brigadier-General William Seely, head of the US Military's Task Force Iraq, said it would be "repositioning" troops to prepare for "movement out" of the country.
But US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said: "There's been no decision whatsover to leave Iraq."
"There's no decision to leave, nor did we issue any plans to leave or prepare to leave."
He insisted that the US had instead been repositioning troops due to increased security threats from Iran.
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