The US has detected a surface-to-air missile threat targeting Air Force One

According to two unnamed US officials, US intelligence has collected many different sources and knows there is a specific threat of using surface-to-air missiles to target Air Force One, as Mr. Trump entered the final day of attending the NATO summit in Türkiye on July 8.

A person carrying a shoulder-mounted missile was also discovered in the area near the NATO conference venue. These officials said the Iranian side also knows exactly where Mr. Trump is staying in Ankara, including which floor of the building he is on.

This information is considered reliable enough to cause Mr. Trump and senior officials in the administration to carry out a special diversion plan to get him out of Türkiye. He boarded an old Air Force One plane in front of cameras but then secretly left in an airline catering truck and boarded another military plane to leave the country.

Mr. Trump arrived in Türkiye on July 8 on a new Boeing 747-8 donated to the US by Qatar, renovated and upgraded into a presidential plane with the name VC-25B Transition Aircraft. Before leaving Türkiye that evening, Mr. Trump announced that he wanted to use the old Air Force One aircraft, codenamed VC-25A, painted blue and white, “for nostalgia’s sake.” The official announcement from the White House said that the US President left Türkiye on this old plane.

The plane change plan was kept secret from a portion of the White House staff and accompanying reporters.

Mr. Trump has been the target of assassination plots in the past. He was grazed by a bullet in a failed assassination attempt while campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024, and also became the target of another gunman at a golf course in Florida later that year.