THE killing of an Iranian war general was carried out using a part owned by a Brighton company.

Qasem Soleimani was killed by a US drone in Iraq on Friday last week.

The attack escalated tensions in the Middle East and prompted a ballistic missile response from Iran on air bases housing US forces in retaliation.

Now, The Argus can reveal that arms factory EDO MBM, which is based in Moulsecoomb, owns a part which helped carry out the killing of the Iranian General.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, believes the company has no place in the city. 

He said: “This assassination of senior military officials is, even by the most flexible interpretation of international law, unlawful.”

The US used a MQ-9 Reaper Drone to launch hellfire missiles at Soleimani, 62, as he was leaving Baghdad airport in his car.

The missiles left the drone’s bomb rack using Zero Retention Force Arming Units (ZRFAU) – a weapon part which is owned by the weapons company based in Moulscoomb.

In 2006, EDO MBM said on its website that it was “actively manufacturing” the part for the US armed services.

But it later denied it was manufacturing from its Home Farm Business Park site and removed the statement from its website.

However, in 2010, the company’s then-boss Paul Hills told a court the company owned the licence and the rights to the part.

The admission came in a 2010 Lewes Crown Court criminal trial of Smash EDO activists accused of conspiracy to cause criminal damage.

The activists were found not guilty by “lawful excuse”.

The company maintained that it did not manufacture the weapon throughout the trial.

But Mr Hills said that “if you want information, technical information, advice on how to use these, where to fit them... you would come to Brighton.”

This comes after The Argus revealed last year that attacks on a civilian target in Yemen were carried out using EDO MBM parts.

Lloyd Russell Moyle added: “EDO arms Saudi Arabia, which conducts unlawful strikes in Yemen.

“And now unlawful killings that could destabilise the entire Middle East.

“It has no place in Brighton.”

EDO MBM were contacted for comment.

Gen Soleimani was widely regarded as the second most powerful man in Iran.

The country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described the missile attacks made in response as a “slap in the face” for the US.

Has and called for an end to the country’s presence in the region.

Donald Trump previously said: “Let this serve as a warning that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level and important to Iran and the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, will be hit very fast and very hard.The USA wants no more threats.”

Since the retaliation, the country says it is “ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations”.