During a phone call with his Bulgarian counterpart, Velislava Petrova-Chamova, Araqchi said Sofia’s approval of a US request to station military aircraft at ​the base to support military operations amounted to facilitating aggression ​against Iran, adding the move was unacceptable and contrary ⁠to the traditionally friendly relations between the two countries.

Iran has repeatedly ​warned countries allowing their territory to be used for US military ​operations against it that they could “face consequences”.

Araqchi held a separate phone call with Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, during which he stressed the importance of ​preventing foreign military bases in Cyprus from being used against Iran.

Bulgaria’s parliament ​last week approved the temporary deployment of up to eight US KC-135 tanker ‌aircraft ⁠and up to 250 personnel at Bezmer air base despite Iranian objections. Sofia has said no offensive weapons would be deployed and that the move did not make Bulgaria a party to military ​operations.

Cyprus hosts two ​British sovereign ⁠military bases, including RAF Akrotiri, which was struck by an Iranian drone in early March, a few days ​after Israel and the US initiated strikes on ​Iran.

Britain agreed ⁠early on in the war to a US request to use British bases for defensive strikes against Iranian missiles in storage depots or launchers.

This ⁠arrangement ​was maintained by the new British ​Prime Minister Andy Burnham in July, prompting Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to warn Britain against facilitating US ​military operations against Iran.