The Iranian ballistic missile shot down over Turkey has caused a reaction from the authorities in our country. Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov announced that a reassessment will be made as to whether there is an immediate threat to the security of our country. Immediately afterwards, Zapryanov called an emergency meeting at the Ministry of Defense.
"The ballistic missiles launched for the first time from the territory of Iran towards Turkey, a NATO country, as well as the provocation a few days ago with the missiles towards Cyprus fundamentally change the assessments with which we planned and announced that there was no immediate threat to the territory of the country", Zapryanov said at an emergency briefing and added:
"That is precisely why we are reassessing the situation, because the permissions we have given for the US aviation assets under NATO remain and there are no other requests, but we are obliged in this situation, in which Iran does not comply with international rules and has unreasonably attacked countries that are not participating, we will have to reassess the risks and threats".
The attack on Cyprus shows that the Iranian regime does not take into account who is participating in the military operation and who is not. The launch of a missile against a NATO member state is a dangerous escalation, the Minister of Defense said. The Turkish government and NATO confirmed that a ballistic missile was launched from Iran towards Turkey. The missile was destroyed by the Alliance forces.
From 1:00 p.m. today, I held a meeting with the military leadership, at which we assessed the risks and the readiness of our armed forces to deal with such actions and threats. There has been a change in the readiness of some of our formations responsible for the Bulgarian air defense. A report is currently being prepared, which will be presented to the Prime Minister for the Security Council, which he will direct. At this Council, based on the report, we will make specific proposals to guarantee the security of our citizens.
The Alliance will not bend, planned events will continue to take place, NATO exercises are being held everywhere, so Iran will not scare us into stopping the strengthening of the Alliance forces. NATO is the most reliable guarantor for the protection of our territory, Zapryanov added.