US Air Force KC 135-RT Stratotankers at Sofia Airport<\/p>\n
Two U.S. tanker aircraft have left Bulgaria\u2019s Bezmer air base, Bulgaria’s defence minister \u200bsaid on Saturday, nearly a month after \u200ctheir deployment in the Balkan country angered Iran.<\/p>\n
The United States, which has been at war with Iran \u200bsince February 28, requested their temporary \u200bdeployment under an agreement governing the joint \u2060use of military facilities.<\/p>\n
Iran said at the \u200btime that their deployment would constitute complicity in “aggression and \u200bwar crimes”, a charge that Sofia dismissed.<\/p>\n
The two U.S. Air Force KC-135 planes left Bulgaria on Friday, Defence \u200bMinister Dimitar Stoyanov told reporters.<\/p>\n
The U.S. authorities \u200bcould not be immediately reached for comment.<\/p>\n
The deployment of \u200cthe \u2060aircraft, approved by Bulgaria’s parliament on July 22, led to protests by nearby residents who feared the planes would be attacked by Iranian \u200bmissiles and \u200bdrones.<\/p>\n
Stoyanov said \u2060all the aircraft’s flights during their temporary deployment had been training \u200bmissions over allied countries and that \u200bBulgaria \u2060had “no information about direct threats to our national security.”<\/p>\n
“We are working in full coordination with \u2060the \u200bU.S. government and had prior \u200binformation, which is why all our decisions were well-founded,” he \u200bsaid.<\/p>\n
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