US Foils Iranian Plot to Attack Trump’s Air Force One During NATO Summit in Turkey

The New York Times revealed new details about an alleged Iranian assassination plot against then-US President Donald Trump during the NATO summit in Ankara last month. Intelligence agencies uncovered a credible threat involving a shoulder-fired missile aimed at the presidential aircraft. In response, US officials executed a deception operation on July 8, the day after the summit, to conceal Trump’s location and protect him from the threat.

The operation involved secretly transferring Trump from the new Air Force One Boeing 747-8, recently gifted by Qatar, to a smaller military C-32A aircraft. Trump was initially seen boarding the old Air Force One, which then took off without him, serving as a decoy. Trump and his team exited covertly via a catering truck that hid their movement to the C-32A, which flew him to the UK under a non-presidential call sign with tracking systems disabled. Meanwhile, the decoy plane carried White House staff and journalists, unaware of the ruse.

The intelligence indicated that the Iranians knew Trump’s exact location in Ankara, including the floor he was on, and a man was spotted near the summit with a shoulder missile launcher. The threat emerged shortly after Trump began using the new Boeing 747-8, which reportedly lacks some missile detection and countermeasure systems present on the older planes. The US spent $400 million retrofitting the new aircraft, but concerns about its defensive capabilities remain.

Pentagon officials and the White House confirmed the new plane is safe but announced Trump would return to using the older aircraft temporarily while upgrades are made. The operation was kept secret from most White House officials and the public for hours. Trump later acknowledged the threat during the flight back to the US but did not disclose the deception. The US ambassador to Israel confirmed that Israeli intelligence had provided warnings about the Iranian plot.

This incident highlights the ongoing security risks for US leadership in volatile regions and the complexities of protecting the president during international travel, especially near hostile states like Iran.