Government officials in Sofia have stoutly denied of arms sales to Iraq without the knowledge of the Iraqi government.

Regarding a Washington Post front-page article published on November 23, which accuses Bulgaria of organising the sale and shipment of three plane-loads of weapons and ammunition to the Kurds in northern Iraq that allegedly took place in September, the spokesman of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dragovest Draganov, has told the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) that Bulgaria did not sell arms to private individuals or non-government organisations, and that no such transaction ever took place.

According to Draganov, the Bulgarian Government abides by all international treaties and conventions, and that there are no justifications for the slander which was published in the Washington Post.
 
The reputed American publication reported on November 23 that massive quantity of weapons and ammunition were shipped from Bulgaria to the Kurds in northern Iraq, who are engaged in ongoing operations against the Turkish army. Thus, this had greatly alarmed US officials, who were deeply concerned regarding the possibility of an armed confrontation between Iraqi Kurds and the government in Iraq, and possibly against Turkish forces, at a sensitive time when the Kurds were attempting to expand their influence over parts of northern Iraq, and there are continuing military operations in the southeaster mountainous border of Turkey and Iraq, again, between Kurds and Turkish forces.

Allegedly, the arms from Bulgarian origin were deployed in the northern city of Sulaymaniyah in September on three C-130 cargo planes, according to three officials, who - as told by the Washington Post - wished to remain anonymous due to the nature of disclosed information.

The interior minister of Iraq, Jawad al-Bolani, declared that the Iraqi central government did not authorize purchasing of weapons and ammunition, nor their shipment from Bulgaria. Furthermore, he said that a transaction of such nature was a "violation" of Iraqi law as only the interior and defense ministries were authorised to sign such deals with foreign governments.

United States officials claimed that the shipments were of Bulgarian origin in September. Apparently, they learned of the deal from a source inside Bulgaria.