US President Donald Trump reportedly travelled secretly aboard a US military aircraft from Turkey to Britain last month after what US media described as a credible assassination threat from Iran, rather than flying aboard the government aircraft as publicly announced.
The Washington Post, citing two people familiar with the operation, reported that Trump was secretly transferred from an older model of Air Force One to a smaller Air Force C-32A after leaving the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8. The reported operation was intended to conceal the president’s actual aircraft and was described by one source as a deception designed to turn the older Air Force One into a “decoy”.
Trump had initially entered the older, baby-blue Air Force One in Ankara in front of cameras. He had said he would use the aircraft “um der alten Zeiten willen” to fly to the US Air Force base at Mildenhall in Britain before returning to the United States aboard the jet donated by Qatar.
According to the Washington Post report, Trump was taken only minutes after boarding the older aircraft to the smaller military plane in an airport catering truck. The C-32A reportedly landed in Britain at about 22.20, while the older Air Force One and members of the media arrived several minutes later. Video footage showed Trump leaving the older aircraft at about 22.56, although it remained unclear how he was transferred from the smaller aircraft to the larger one.
The reported deception was sufficiently convincing that some media representatives and White House personnel aboard the older Air Force One reportedly believed the president was travelling with them. The White House, responding to the report, defended the security measures. Communications Director Steven Cheung said there were many enemies of the United States targeting Trump and that the administration was using all available means to address such threats.
The reported security operation comes as tensions over the Strait of Hormuz remain unresolved. Trump has said that mines have been cleared throughout the waterway and that the United States controls the strategically important route “100 percent”. However, his remarks did not indicate that every mine had been neutralised, and he said Iran occasionally lays mines that are subsequently found.
Vice President JD Vance had indicated over the weekend that mine clearance was not yet complete. He said Iran had laid a large number of mines at the beginning of the war and that efforts were under way to establish a mechanism for safe shipping, including mine clearance and Iranian commitments not to attack commercial vessels.
The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial route for global energy supplies. Before the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran at the end of February, shipping through the waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman had been largely uninterrupted. Around one-fifth of global oil demand was transported through the strait, which is also important for liquefied natural gas and fertiliser shipments. Attacks and threats against vessels after the war began brought shipping close to a standstill and sent global oil and gas prices sharply higher.
At the same time, Trump has made compensation payments a condition for future negotiations with Iran. He has demanded that Iran compensate people killed or seriously injured by Iranian actions, as well as families of protesters killed by the Iranian leadership over the past 50 years. Trump also blamed Iran for the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, although FBI investigations found that members of al-Qaida planned and carried out the attack.
Iran had previously demanded compensation for war damage as part of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, alongside an end to US threats, the lifting of the maritime blockade of Iranian ports and the withdrawal of US forces from the region.
With competing demands now surrounding both negotiations and the reopening of the vital waterway, the reported presidential security operation provides another indication of the continuing uncertainty surrounding the conflict and its wider international consequences.
