''The safe evacuation of Bulgarian citizens from the affected countries is a priority. Currently, there are Bulgarian nationals in Israel who must be evacuated in the safest possible way'', Bulgaria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Georg Georgiev said in an interview with public service broadcaster BNT. ''The lists of those wishing to be evacuated are being updated. The people are not located in one place. At the moment, it is impossible to send a plane to Israel. The safe windows for evacuating people are short, and the only less risky option is to evacuate people by land to less risky regions'', Minister Georgiev explained.

In Minister Georgiev’s words, there are several people in Iran who want to be evacuated. So far, 11 people have left the Jordanian capital Amman and have arrived in Bulgaria.

• Bulgarian Consulate in Tel Aviv suspends reception of citizens until June 17

• A coordination center at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will monitor the situation in the Middle East

''The EU cannot be indifferent to what is happening. The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency refers to unauthorized actions by Iran. We hope that there is a way out of the crisis. At present, there is no direct threat to Bulgaria'', Minister Georgiev added.

Published and translated by Kostadin Atanasov

Photo: mfa.bg