Vlad, Ruxandra Oana Eugenia (2020) Striking the shadow commander: ascertaining the legitimacy of the drone strike on Gen. Qasem Soleimani through an examination of the U.S. claim to pre-attack self-defence. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The targeted killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani set off a chain of events that nearly incited a significant international conflict. Spearheaded by the Central Intelligence Agency, this counterterror mission sought to eliminate Soleimani on the grounds that he posed an ‘imminent threat’ to the United States. Following the strike, the US claimed that it had acted legitimately by citing adherence to self-defence under customary international law. However, this justification for the preemptive use of force would quickly unravel when it was determined that no such ‘imminent’ threat could be corroborated. Further doubt was raised when several US officials confirmed that US President Trump had signed what amounted to Soleimani’s death warrant seven months before the strike. When it was reported that another Iranian official was unsuccessfully targeted in Yemen on the same day as Soleimani, it became clear that there was rather more to the story than what the US had disclosed. This dissertation seeks to interrogate some of these issues.

The purpose of this dissertation is to determine whether the US claim to pre-attack self-defence was legitimate. Comprehensive analysis based on process tracing was undertaken deploying qualitative approaches. Real-time information on the Soleimani strike was combined with critical conclusions extricated from scholarly works on the subject to develop a framework capable of ascertaining the Soleimani strike's legitimacy. Thus, this dissertation seeks to contribute to our understanding of pre-attack self-defence doctrine by developing a framework capable of determining the legitimacy of operations similar to that of the Soleimani strike.

In sum, this dissertation determined that the US strike on Gen. Soleimani did not sufficiently adhere to pre-attack self-defence conditions based on available intelligence. This project further reaffirms this topic's growing importance and raised further issues for future research, including the urgent need for a minimum legal threshold of imminence necessary to permit such attacks.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	J Political Science > JX International law J Political Science > JZ International relations U Military Science > U Military Science (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Sulaymānī, Qāsim, 1957-2020, Terrorism -- Prevention, Bombing, Aerial, Uninhabited combat aerial vehicles, Terrorism -- Government policy -- United States, United States -- Military policy, United States -- Foreign relations -- Iran. , Iran -- Foreign relations -- United States, Self-defense (International law)
Official Date:	15 December 2020
Dates:	Date Event 15 December 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Politics and International Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Aldrich, Richard J. (Richard James), 1961- ; Homolar, Alexandra
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	x, 396 leaves : illustrations
Language:	eng

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