Tehran warns Bulgaria against allowing US to use its territory for military operations against Iran – report

Iran on July 21 warned Bulgaria against allowing the United States to use its territory for military operations against Tehran, saying such a move would make Bulgaria complicit in what it described as “aggression and war crimes,” the Anadolu news agency reported.

Speaking to the official IRNA news agency, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei was responding to reports that the Bulgarian government is considering a US request to deploy military aircraft at Bezmer Air Base in support of operations against Iran, Anadolu reported.

As The Sofia Globe reported on July 20, Bulgarian Prime Minister Roumen Radev said that his government would ask the National Assembly to approve the deployment of up to eight US refuelling aircraft at Bezmer air base in support of US operations in the Middle East – widely understood to mean, against Iran.

At an emergency meeting on July 21, the Bulgarian Parliament’s portfolio committee on defence approved the proposal, which is likely to be put to the National Assembly soon.

At the meeting of Parliament’s defence committee, the vote was 11 votes in favour, one against, with two abstentions.

The votes in favour came, with one exception, from Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party, Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF and Magnitsky Act-sanctioned Delyan Peevski’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

The vote against came from pro-Russian minority party Vuzrazhdane, while opposition Democratic Bulgaria abstained, as did Ivan Dimitrov, an MP from Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria, who was elected from Yambol, the location of the Bezmer airfield.

Vuzrazhdane has claimed that agreeing to the deployment of the US aircraft would make Bulgaria a party to the conflict, while on July 21, Radev ally President Iliana Yotova said that it would not.

The proposal calls for up to eight US Boeing KC-135 tanker refuelling aircraft and up to 250 military personnel to be stationed at Bezmer, from July 24 to October 1 2026. The July 24 date is seen as creating an urgency for a decision by the National Assembly, which in terms of article 84 clause 11 of the constitution has the say over the deployment of foreign military personnel on Bulgaria territory.

On July 21, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said that he would be in Yambol on July 24, where he is ready to talk to all the mayors of the district where the Bezmer military airport is located.

Stoyanov said that a decision is being sought from the National Assembly regarding the aircraft due to public concerns over the previous stationing of US military aircraft – also tankers – at Vassil Levski Sofia Airport.

“A military intelligence analysis shows that there are risks, but there is no direct threat to national security,” Stoyanov said.

Stoyanov said that the possibility of deploying the aircraft at Bezmer Airport is still being assessed, and there is no final assessment yet.

He said that if the US decides that it is not possible to deploy the equipment at this airport, a new note from the US embassy will have to be submitted.

Stoyanov said that he is still awaiting information from the US on how and from where fuel for the military aircraft will be supplied.

Regarding the possibility of the aircraft being stationed in Bulgaria, Stoyanov said that this is done under a 2006 agreement.

Democratic Bulgaria’s Ivailo Mirchev said on July 21 that he had abstained on the voted because of the refusal by the committee for a hearing of the head of Bulgaria’s Military Intelligence, General Venelin Venev, on the matter.

“We from Democratic Bulgaria abstained because, first, we did not receive strong enough arguments at the hearing itself. Second, we wanted Military Intelligence, which had prepared a report for the Cabinet, come to present to members of Parliament so we could become familiar with the potential risks for Bulgaria. We were denied this and for this reason we voted abstain,” Mirchev said.

Before the defence committee meeting, Stoyanov alleged that previous governments – the Zhelyazkov government and the Gyurov caretaker administration – had lied to the public about their agreements with the US about the hosting of the US aircraft in Sofia by saying that the intention had been for the aircraft to be involved in Nato exercises.

Stoyanov, referring to the previous administrations’ statements that the aircraft had been hosted in line with Nato commitment, challenged those formerly in power to say “what exercises they participated in, what missions were conducted, who was the head of the exercise, when the conferences for planning the exercises were held”.

On July 21, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported that Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry had received a note from the Iranian embasy in Sofia regarding the possible deployment of US Air Force tanker aircraft at Bezmer Airport.

As reported by BNT, the Foreign Ministry statement – not as of the evening of July 21 posted on the ministry’s website – said: “The Republic of Bulgaria is not undertaking any hostile actions against Iran in fulfillment of its contractual commitments to its ally the United States. It is excluded that any military actions in the Middle East will be carried out from the territory of Bulgaria”.

“We hope that as soon as possible both sides in the conflict will recommit to de-escalation and cessation of hostilities, which they managed to agree on very recently,” Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said, according to BNT.

Bulgaria appeals for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the resumption of talks to negotiate a ceasefire that would allow for the achievement of a sustainable agreement ending the conflict, the ministry said.

(Photo of an US Air Force Boeing KC-135 tanker: US Air Force)