JNN 13 August 2026 Washington: – A threat that Air Force ​One could be targeted by a shoulder-fired missile prompted the Secret Service to secretly move President Donald Trump onto a smaller government jet during a trip to Turkey ‌last month, a person briefed on the matter said on Wednesday.

The threat emerged on the final day of Trump’s visit to Ankara for the NATO summit amid heightened tensions with Iran, the source said. The Secret Service deemed the threat to be credible and imminent, prompting an extraordinary operation to conceal the U.S. president’s movements.

The Wednesday report by the Middle East Eye (MEE) quoted Turkish officials and sources as saying that the Israeli intelligence report had sought to persuade the US Secret Service that Iran was planning to kill Trump during the NATO summit in Ankara in July. One Source told the MEE about the Israeli intelligence report delivered to US officials in Turkey on July 8.

The report said Benjamin Netanyahu and his team were just trying to portray themselves as protecting Trump and undermine efforts by him to reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway in the Persian Gulf that has come under total Iranian control since the early days of the US-Israeli aggression on the country in early March.

The New York Times reported that U.S. officials were alarmed to discover that Iranians knew where Trump was staying in Ankara, including the exact floor of ​his hotel.

White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, executive assistant Natalie Harp and director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta made the move in the catering truck with Trump, the source said.

Trump and a small group of aides surreptitiously switch from the big ⁠blue-and-white presidential aircraft Known as Airforce One , to a smaller, nondescript C-32A jet for the flight out of Turkey on July 8, while Air Force One departed separately carrying senior administration officials, White House staff and ​the traveling press corps, according to the first source.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he made the switch at the direction of the Secret Service, which is charged with presidential security. He flew from Ankara ​to a refueling stop in Britain without incident.

The threat may have been a new type of heat-seeking missile that homes in on hot aircraft engines and has become an increasing concern for military planners, said ​Douglas Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. They are harder to detect than traditional radar-guided threats and “can kind of come out of nowhere” because they don’t send out detectable ​radio waves.

One version, the Iranian SA-67, has a simple rail launcher and is believed to use heat-seeking as well as laser guidance systems, Birkey said. A shoulder-mounted heat-seeking weapon, the 9K333 Verba, is made in Russia, ‌he said.

The Washington Post first reported details of the operation this week, more than a month after it was carried out.

On board the Air Force One jet now seen as a decoy were U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who the first source ​said was briefed on ⁠the maneuver; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; White House communications director Steven Cheung; and a number of other aides plus the typical 13-person press pool that included a Reuters correspondent and photographer.

As the intended people boarded Airforce One, White House staff directed journalists to close all the window shades. When they pressed for an explanation, they were told it was a request from the Secret Service.

As the Airforce One landed in England in the late evening, the trip took another unusual turn.

Our Sources told that As they walked off the plane, they saw Trump descend from another section of the aircraft, an elaborate ​part of the ruse in hindsight.

Some media commentators and lawmakers have questioned whether the operation ⁠left Trump’s aides ​and journalists traveling with him at risk aboard the plane presumed to be carrying the president.

The first source said ​it was determined that it was in Trump’s best interests to keep the ruse secret as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkey.

The world’s greatest military power can protect a president with almost unimaginable technology, but it cannot make him immune from fear. This is the uncomfortable truth about power: the possession of weapons does not end vulnerability.

In today’s world the strongest person is necessarily the person with the greatest weapons. At times the strongest person is the one who refuses to be threatened, bullied or cowed down.