Two US 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 February 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 US Air Force KC-135 planes left Bulgaria on Friday, Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov told reporters.
The US authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.
Nearby residents protested the deployment out of fear of Iranian missile and drone attacks
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 US government and had prior information, which is why all our decisions were well-founded," he said.