Iran Threat Prompts White House Decoy: Trump Secretly Leaves Ankara After NATO Summit

President Donald Trump left Ankara, Turkey after a NATO summit last month amid an Iranian threat to assassinate him, and the Washington Post reported that the White House made it appear he was traveling on Air Force One while he was secretly flown on an alternate military aircraft.

“An Iranian assassination threat against President Donald Trump prompted an extraordinary operation”

The Washington Post

The Washington Post said Trump boarded the older Air Force One as the White House publicly claimed, but he was then secretly transferred to a smaller US Air Force C-32A using a catering truck, which served as a decoy while journalists and some White House staff believed they were traveling with him.

ABC

The New York Times reported that Trump was taken in a catering container to a military jet for a secret flight out of the country after the NATO summit, after officials said there was a threat against him and Air Force One from Iran.

The operation was carried out without the knowledge of journalists and even some White House staff members, according to the Jerusalem Post, which said they believed they were traveling on the same aircraft as the president.

As the ruse unfolded, journalists on the old plane were advised to keep their window shades in the press cabin closed, and Trump later responded to questions about the instruction by saying they were "probably on a dangerous flight."

The Times of India reported that when reporters asked Trump why they had been told to keep the shades shut during the flight, he said they were "probably on a dangerous flight," and it also quoted him saying, "But if I go, you go, right?"

AlbertoNews

White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement, "As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats," while the White House did not respond to specific questions about the Washington Post report.

The New York Times described how reporters on the older plane were not told that Trump had not flown with them from Turkey to an air base in Britain, leaving them and some White House staff members to serve as unknowing decoys.

The Washington Post report, as framed by the Jerusalem Post, said the transfer concealed Trump’s actual location for several hours, not only from the American public but also from many senior administration officials.

“The arrangement concealed Trump's actual location for several hours”

The Jerusalem Post

The Times of India said the deception operation came as hostilities with Iran were escalating and noted that Iran borders Turkey, where Trump traveled for the NATO summit and made his first international trip aboard a newly renovated jet donated by Qatar.

The New York Times reported that the decision was publicly described as a switch to an older version of Air Force One rather than the luxury 747-8 donated by Qatar, and it said the Times reported at the time that the decision was driven in part by concern about the security of the new plane donated by Qatar.

In a separate account, the Guardian reported that the Qatar-donated aircraft had been fitted with high-level security protocols, while the Washington Post and New York Times reconstruction described the operation as involving multiple planes and journalists as decoys to conceal the president’s movements from the public for hours.