Bulgarian PM speaks to Nato chief after media report of Iran threat
Bulgarian Prime Minister Roumen Radev held a telephone conversation on August 20 with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte following a media report about a possible threat from Iran to military bases in European countries assisting the United States.
A Bulgarian government media statement said that Radev and Rutte discussed the security environment in Europe with an emphasis on the possible risk of aggressive actions by Iran, according to allegations in foreign media.
On August 19, the Financial Times reported that Iran was considering attacks on bases being used to support the US, with the report naming Bulgaria’s Bezmer base, which is hosting US military aircraft.
The statement said that Rutte personally confirmed the full support and readiness of Nato defence forces and assets in the region to respond and neutralize any threat to Nato member states.
The readiness for reliable defence was also proven with the recent successful interception of ballistic missiles towards Türkiye, the statement said.
Any attack on a Nato member state will be treated categorically as an attack on the Alliance with all actions arising from the North Atlantic Treaty, it said.
On August 19, Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said that security at the Bezmer base was more than accurate.
Middle East expert Marian Karagyozov from the Institute of Balkan Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences told Bulgarian National Radio on August 20 that Iran would have no interest in opening a new northern front towards Nato countries.
(Photo: government.bg)
