Bulgaria downplays Iranian warning

Bulgaria, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union, downplayed the significance on Monday of an Iranian warning that its plan to host U.S. refueling aircraft amounted to complicity in “aggression and war crimes” against Tehran.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev told members of his cabinet: “It is entirely unlikely that military operations in the Middle East would be launched from Bulgarian territory.”

Earlier this week, the Bulgarian government stated it would seek parliamentary approval for the deployment of approximately eight U.S. refueling aircraft at a military airbase in the country.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that the new UK Labour Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has approved the use of British bases to carry out strikes that London classifies as “defensive” against Iran, continuing the policy adopted by his predecessor, Keir Starmer.

In the meantime, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied that his country was supplying Tehran with weapons to target U.S. interests, responding to some assessments that Iran was using precision technology to hit targets, which had been provided by Moscow or Beijing.

Speaking after participating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) events in the Philippines, Lavrov said: “Without any clear reason, the West, and Washington in particular, is now promoting the narrative that Russia and China are directly supplying Iran with weapons to attack U.S. targets. Well, as you know, it’s even disturbing to hear that.”