The American aircraft at the "Bezmer" airbase caused a political clash and dozens of questions.
According to former Deputy Minister of Defense Prof. Rumen Kanchev, the deployment of the aircraft at the airbase poses a risk to our national security.
Logistics or participation in a strategic operation
"The people who protest have a reason. Serious American weapons will enter the base. They will participate in a real strategic operation of the US army. Logistics is part of the operation, i.e. there is no logistical operation, there is logistics that supports a main strategic operation. The mayors are calm, even though they have collected signatures," he said on "Denyat ON AIR".
Discrepancy in assessments of risk and threat
Security expert Slavcho Velkov expressed amazement at the "deep ignorance of the matter regarding risk, threat and danger".
"Risk and threat are brother and sister of danger. Threat is almost a manifest risk. I would say that not only is there a risk, but from this moment on - from the moment of deployment, that category that we call a threat can also be manifested", Velkov told Bulgaria ON AIR.
In his words, after the adoption of the decision of the National Assembly, we can now speak in a different tone about the risk: "Everything we are witnessing is in conflict with a number of regulations".
How the base ended up involved in the conflict with Tehran
Tikhomir Bezlov from the Center for the Study of Democracy noted that the planes participated in operations against Iran.
"They refueled American planes, taking off from here with fuel. They could be seen leaving. If we analyze their point of view - they would hardly risk attacking a European country that is a member of NATO. If we look at the operations of July 8, they usually attack their neighbors, but to a limited extent," he emphasized.
According to Bezlov, in order for Iran to attack a country like Bulgaria, ballistic missiles must pass through Turkey: "There is no way they can pass from anywhere else".
Can the NATO umbrella stop Iranian missiles
Iran has every opportunity to launch a missile strike on the base, added Prof. Kanchev.
"The greatest protection of this base and Bulgaria is our membership in NATO and Article 5. According to NATO's security and missile defense architecture, we have four ships in the Mediterranean Sea with a system for intercepting such missiles. The problem is that when firing such missiles, the flight time is 12 minutes," informed the former Deputy Minister of Defense.
Prof. Kanchev also highlighted another danger - if Iran decides to launch a combined strike, which, in his words, "will not solve": "The most important thing is to diplomatically prevent the situation from escalating."
Bezlov pointed out that relations in Iran are complicated and it is uncertain whether the regime will currently continue to dominate in the coming weeks.
"Iran's military power has been greatly reduced. Yes, they attack neighboring countries, but what is the success rate? Russia is careful what it gives," commented Prof. Kanchev.