Two US tanker aircraft leave Bulgaria a month after deployment upset Iran

Two U.S. tanker aircraft have left Bulgaria’s Bezmer air base, Bulgaria’s defense minister said on Saturday, nearly a month after their deployment in the Balkan country angered Iran.

The United States, which has been at war with Iran since Feb. 28, requested their temporary deployment under an agreement governing the joint use of military facilities.

Iran said at the time that their deployment would constitute complicity in “aggression and war crimes”, a charge that Sofia dismissed.

The two U.S. Air Force KC-135 planes left Bulgaria on Friday, Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov told reporters.

The U.S. authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.

The deployment of the aircraft, approved by Bulgaria’s parliament on July 22, led to protests by nearby residents who feared the planes would be attacked by Iranian missiles and drones.

Stoyanov said all the aircraft’s flights during their temporary deployment had been training missions over allied countries and that Bulgaria had “no information about direct threats to our national security.”

“We are working in full coordination with the U.S. government and had prior information, which is why all our decisions were well-founded,” he said.

保加利亚国防部长周六表示，两架美国加油机已离开保加利亚贝兹梅尔空军基地。此前近一个月，这两架飞机部署到这个巴尔干国家激怒了伊朗。

自2月28日以来一直与伊朗处于战争状态的美国，根据一项关于共同使用军事设施的协议，要求临时部署这些人员。

伊朗当时表示，部署这些武器将构成对“侵略和战争罪行”的共谋，索非亚驳斥了这一指控。

保加利亚国防部长迪米塔尔·斯托亚诺夫告诉记者，两架美国空军KC-135飞机于周五离开保加利亚。

记者未能立即联系到美国当局置评。

保加利亚议会于 7 月 22 日批准部署这批飞机，引发了附近居民的抗议，他们担心这些飞机将遭到伊朗导弹和无人机的袭击。

斯托亚诺夫表示，这些飞机在临时部署期间的所有飞行都是在盟国上空进行的训练任务，保加利亚“没有收到任何有关国家安全受到直接威胁的信息”。

他说：“我们与美国政府进行了充分的协调，并且事先掌握了相关信息，所以我们所有的决定都是有充分依据的。”