President Donald Trump secretly boarded a separate U.S. military aircraft via an airport catering truck to evade a reported Iranian assassination plot during his departure from Turkey last month, according to a Washington Post report citing two people familiar with the matter.
The operation involved a decoy plane to mislead observers, with Trump recorded boarding an older Air Force One before being smuggled into a catering truck that transported him to a nearby Air Force C-32A. The C-32A then flew him to the United Kingdom while the decoy jet departed with journalists and staff aboard, unaware of the deception.
The maneuver occurred at Ankara Airport on July 8, following Trump’s attendance at a NATO summit. U.S. intelligence had identified a credible threat from Iran targeting the president’s movements, prompting security officials to execute the ruse to ensure his safe departure.
Flight-tracking data reviewed by the Washington Post showed the decoy jet initially took off without a call sign before adopting the ‘AF1’ identifier midflight, despite Trump not being aboard. Reporters and White House staff were instructed to close window shades during the decoy flight, further concealing the operation.
The Washington Post reported that only a small circle of security personnel and aides were aware of the plan, which was designed to protect Trump from potential harm. The decoy jet, a legacy blue-and-white Boeing 747, was later sent back to the U.S. for security upgrades after Trump’s departure.
The report did not specify the exact nature of the Iranian threat or the intelligence sources behind the assessment. However, it noted that the operation was conducted amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran following military strikes against Iranian targets earlier in the summer.
The White House has not publicly commented on the report. Trump has previously stated that he is Iran’s ‘No. 1 target’ amid escalating conflict, raising concerns about potential assassination risks.