Iranian cell with MANPADS triggered secret Trump plane switch in Turkey: report

A threat from an Iranian cell involving a shoulder-fired missile prompted US officials to use a decoy flight for President Donald Trump’s departure from a NATO summit in Turkey last month, according to officials cited by ABC News.

On July 8, as Trump prepared to leave Ankara after the NATO gathering, US intelligence—drawing from streams that included input involving the NSA, CIA, and Turkish services—detected what officials described as a credible, imminent plot.

Sources said someone had been spotted in the vicinity of the summit with a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile (a man-portable air-defense system, or MANPADS), and that Iranian operatives knew precise details of Trump’s location, including the specific floor of his hotel.

The Secret Service and military responded with an elaborate last-minute ruse.

Trump publicly boarded the familiar blue-and-white Air Force One (the older VC-25A) in view of cameras, then slipped out the other side into an elevated airport catering truck.

The truck transferred him and a small group of aides to a nearby, less conspicuous Air Force C-32A (a modified Boeing 757) flying under a routine military call sign with tracking systems darkened.

The presidential jet departed separately as a decoy, carrying senior officials, White House staff, and the traveling press corps who were largely unaware of the switch and were instructed to keep window shades closed.

Among those left on the decoy aircraft were Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who sources said was briefed), Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House communications director Steven Cheung, and other aides.

Trump later reunited with the main aircraft for the final leg home after a stop in Britain. The operation remained secret for more than a month until reporting by The Washington Post first brought it to light this week.

Trump addressed the matter for the first time on Tuesday, confirming the switch while downplaying personal concern.

“I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane,” he told reporters.

“I just have to do what they say.”

He added: “I guess there was a threat out there. I didn’t really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats.”

Pressed on why the switch left others on the higher-profile jet, Trump insisted the opposite: “I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk… because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.”

He further remarked, “I don’t worry about anything, to be honest. Whatever it is, you know my attitude: ‘Whatever.’” and noted that “any consequential president has a lot of threats.”