SerpApi.Org
SOFIA, July 22 (Reuters) - Bulgaria played down on Wednesday Iran's warning that its plan to host U.S. tanker aircraft would constitute complicity in "aggression and war crimes" in the Middle East, arguing that the planes would only serve logistical purposes.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev said it was "categorically out of the question for military operations in the Middle East to be conducted from Bulgarian territory".
"These tanker aircraft are intended solely for logistical missions, and they will be refuelled outside Bulgarian airspace," Bulgarian media quoted Radev as telling ministers.
The government said on Monday it would seek parliamentary approval to station up to eight U.S. tanker aircraft at an air base in the Balkan country, which is a member of NATO and the European Union. Parliament is expected to greenlight the move at a session later on Wednesday.
The plan prompted a warning from Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, on Tuesday against allowing the U.S. to use Bulgaria's territory for military operations against Iran, which he said would make Sofia "an accomplice of aggressors and lawbreakers".
The Bulgarian government has said it aims to station the U.S. aircraft at the Bezmer military facility, about 260 km (160 miles) southeast of Sofia.
The U.S. and Iran have intensified strikes since an interim ceasefire deal signed a month ago unravelled, raising the possibility of a return to all-out war.
(Reporting by Alex Lefkowitz; Writing by Antonis Pothitos; Editing by Andrei Khalip)
