Donald Trump was secretly smuggled out of Turkey inside a catering truck last month after security officials received intelligence of an Iranian assassination threat against the US president, according to reports.
Trump had been attending the NATO summit in Ankara in July and appeared to depart on Air Force One the following day as normal. But according to reporting cited by the BBC and the Washington Post, what actually happened was significantly more dramatic.
After boarding his presidential aircraft, Trump reportedly left the plane and was covertly transported across the tarmac concealed inside a catering truck, before being transferred to a smaller C-32A military jet. The aircraft then flew him to RAF Mildenhall in England, where he transferred to the new Air Force One jet gifted to the US by Qatar before continuing his journey back to Washington.
The operation was kept so tightly under wraps that journalists travelling with the president and even some White House staff had no idea Trump had left Air Force One. It was only during the onward flight from Britain that reporters were able to speak with him, and even then he did not address the reported plane switch directly.
What he did discuss was Iran. When reporters asked why they had been told to keep their window shades down during the flight, Trump replied: "Because you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with." He went on to claim he faces a threat "all the time" and described himself as number one on Iran's supposed list of targets.
He also delivered a characteristically blunt warning to the journalists travelling alongside him: "But if I go, you go, right? Perhaps someday you want to change professions."
The White House has not officially confirmed the operation took place, but communications director Steven Cheung acknowledged the broader threat landscape, saying: "There are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats."
Paul Eckloff, a former Secret Service special agent, told the Associated Press the operation would be highly unusual but not without precedent, noting it could have been triggered either by specific intelligence or by an abundance of caution given the volatile geopolitical situation in the region at the time.
The episode comes amid longstanding and well-documented tensions between the US and Iran, with multiple alleged plots against Trump having been reported and investigated in recent years. Iranian officials have consistently denied involvement in assassination attempts against the former and current president, though US intelligence agencies have repeatedly assessed the threat as credible.
The full details of what intelligence triggered the extraordinary security operation, and what specifically was known about the nature of the threat at the time, remain unclear. The White House has given no indication it plans to publicly confirm or elaborate on what took place on the tarmac in Ankara.
