Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab arrives at the BBC headquarters ahead of his appearance on the Andrew Marr show in London Britain January 5, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States had a right to self defense in killing Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, British foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday.

Soleimani, the architect of Tehran’s overseas clandestine and military operations as head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, was killed on Friday in a U.S. drone strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport.

Asked during an interview with the BBC if the killing was legal, Raab said: “There is a right of self defense.”

“It was General Soleimani’s job description to engage proxies and militias ... to attack Western countries that were legitimately there and in those circumstances the right of self defense clearly applies,” he said, adding that he did not agree that the killing was an act of war.