British troops in Iraq are at greater risk after the US airstrike that killed Iran’s military chief, a former Foreign Office minister has warned, as the US embassy in Baghdad urged Americans to leave Iraq.

As one leading Iranian figure urged western citizens to “leave the UAE immediately” for their own safety, former Middle East minister Alistair Burt said the US airstrike which killed General Qassim Soleimani was "extremely serious.”

Asked whether UK troops based in the region are in danger, Mr Burt told the BBC Radio Four Today programme: "Any of the actions that have been taken in the region could have had a consequence of starting a direct confrontation, and therefore military personnel in the region could have been at risk.

"But there's no doubt that risks and consequences are much greater this morning than they were before, but they're unknown on all sides, but the United States would no doubt say that personnel was at risk already from action taken by the Iranians.

"The question is to what extent have any of those consequences been satisfactorily resolved by this action. And it would seem, at this stage, very unlikely that there's a positive answer to that."