By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
President Donald Trump left the NATO summit in Ankara aboard the older Air Force One after Israel warned Washington of a possible Iranian assassination plot. Some US officials questioned how developed the alleged plan was and whether Israel had political reasons for presenting the intelligence.
Trump had flown to Türkiye on a Boeing 747 donated by Qatar and converted for presidential use. The aircraft departed Ankara for RAF Mildenhall in Britain, while the Secret Service advised Trump to leave Türkiye aboard the established presidential aircraft as a precaution during the escalation with Iran.
The newer aircraft does not yet carry all the defensive and communications systems installed on the older presidential fleet, according to US reporting. That difference gave security officials less room to accept risk while Trump was travelling relatively close to Iran.
Israel had separately shared intelligence that it said indicated Iran was considering a new plan to kill Trump. The Wall Street Journal reported that the information described discussions among Iranian officials, but some US officials did not regard it as evidence of a fully developed operational plot.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee later confirmed that Israeli intelligence had passed information to the Trump administration, describing the warning as highly specific. His account went further than the more cautious assessment attributed to other US officials.
The intelligence also prompted questions inside the US administration about Israel's motives. Some officials suspected the warning was intended partly to push Washington toward a harder position against Iran. Israel's embassy rejected that suggestion.
Trump denied that the aircraft change resulted from a newly identified threat. He said the newer plane had gone to Britain so US military personnel stationed there could inspect it.
Speaking in Ankara, however, Trump acknowledged that Iran had threatened him and said he appeared on multiple target lists. Tehran has repeatedly vowed retaliation for the January 2020 US strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, during Trump's first term.
No public evidence has emerged of an attempted attack in Türkiye or of an Iranian operational team in Ankara. The available reporting supports a precautionary security response to an Israeli warning, not a foiled assassination attempt.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Times of Israel, Fox News, Bosphorus News review and reporting