SOFIA, July 20 (Reuters) - Bulgaria, a NATO and EU member, will seek parliamentary approval on Monday ‌for up to eight U.S. tanker aircraft to ‌be stationed at a military airport, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said, ​after a move to place such planes at a civilian airport triggered controversy.

The government will ask parliament to approve a request by Washington to station tanker planes at ‌the Bezmer military facility ⁠to support the U.S. military's operations in the Middle East, Radev told an annual ⁠conference of Bulgarian Ambassadors in Sofia.

A move earlier this year to station the aircraft, used mainly for airborne refuelling ​of other ​aircraft, at a civilian ​airport in the capital ‌Sofia without prior parliamentary approval, sparked controversy and the planes left last month.

"The problem was that the military planes were based at a civilian airport in close proximity to Sofia. That is why we proposed to our ‌allies to occupy military airfields," ​Radev said.

The Bezmer military base is ​about 260 km (160 ​miles) southeast of Sofia.

The U.S. and Iran ‌have intensified strikes since an ​interim ceasefire deal ​signed a month ago unravelled, raising the possibility of a return to all-out war.

Israel is preparing to ​receive more ‌U.S. refuelling aircraft, an Israeli military official said ​on Sunday.

(Reporting by Alex Lefkowitz, Writing by Angeliki ​Koutantou; Editing by Kate Mayberry)