President Donald Trump secretly left last month’s NATO summit in Ankara aboard an alternate military aircraft while the White House gave the impression he was travelling on Air Force One, in an elaborate operation prompted by an Iranian assassination threat.
The maneuver, first reported by The Washington Post on Monday, unfolded as journalists and some White House staff were led to believe they were flying alongside the president on his return journey to Washington from the annual gathering of alliance leaders.
Trump had arrived at the summit aboard a Qatari-gifted and retrofitted jet painted red, white and navy blue. Ahead of his departure, however, he announced he would fly partway home on an older-model baby blue Air Force One aircraft, saying at the time that the newer luxury jet was being flown out early so U.S. troops based in eastern England could inspect it.
In view of television cameras in Ankara, the president boarded the legacy Air Force One jumbo jet as it prepared to fly to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in the United Kingdom. Minutes later, according to the report, he was quietly shuttled to a smaller Air Force C-32A aircraft using an airport catering truck of the type normally used to load meals and supplies before departure.
“The operation was prompted by an Iranian assassination threat against the president,” the Post reported, citing material it had reviewed, a U.S. official familiar with the operation and another person with knowledge of Trump’s travel arrangements.
The Associated Press said it had not independently confirmed the details. Photographs from the trip show Trump switching planes at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk on July 8, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth watching nearby.
The reported ruse comes against the backdrop of months of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran. Earlier this year, the United States began evacuating troops from several Gulf bases as the administration weighed potential strikes, and a series of unusual military flights across Europe fueled speculation about regional operations.
Trump later paused a planned strike, citing an emerging arrangement aimed at ending a months-long conflict, though relations between the two governments have remained strained.
Neither the White House nor the Secret Service has publicly detailed the security arrangements surrounding the president’s departure from Turkey. The precise nature and credibility of the reported threat remain unclear.
The disclosure underscores the extraordinary lengths taken to protect the president during international travel and is likely to draw further scrutiny of the security posture surrounding his movements abroad in the weeks ahead.