US President Donald Trump boarded the older Air Force One in full view of television cameras in Ankara before being transferred minutes later to a smaller US Air Force C-32A aircraft using an airport catering truck. The operation sought to conceal the president’s movements and location from the public, journalists and even some White House staff members, according to a US official and others familiar with the matter. Arab Times reported the details on August 11, citing The Washington Post, and noted the switch occurred after US forces resumed strikes on Iran in the wake of collapsed negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
Trump had traveled to the Turkish capital for the NATO summit held on July 7-8, during which the alleged assassination threat surfaced and triggered the enhanced security steps. Turkish intelligence services found no evidence of a plot to assassinate the president during that visit, Axios reported on July 17. The New York Times separately detailed on July 24 that officials assessed a credible threat from Iranian proxy forces targeting Trump and Air Force One.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung defended the use of additional security precautions in a statement. «As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,» Cheung said. He added that the aircraft gifted by Qatar, now serving as Air Force One, had been fitted with high-level security protocols to protect the president.
The Guardian and other outlets corroborated accounts of the plane switch prompted by the detected threat from Iranian proxies, which led the Secret Service to recommend an alternate aircraft for departure. Israeli media, including Channel 12 and Channel 13, reported that senior Iranian officials viewed Trump’s summit attendance as a one-time opportunity, with a Western intelligence agency relaying the warning to US authorities beforehand. The reports included an alleged Iranian assessment describing the visit as an unparalleled chance to act.
The incident took place against a backdrop of renewed US-Iran tensions that had already prompted Israeli intelligence sharing with the Pentagon about potential plots. Trump alluded to previous alleged Iranian assassination attempts in a July 8 press conference without addressing the specific Turkey operation. Officials have maintained monitoring of related intelligence streams in the weeks following the summit.
Добавить комментарий