Iran knew Trump's hotel floor in Ankara?
During the NATO summit, a man was spotted near the hotel with a shoulder-fired missile.
According to a report by The New York Times, Iran had precise information about US President Donald Trump's location during the NATO summit in Ankara. There was also a potential threat of an attack with a missile capable of targeting his aircraft. Iranian operatives also knew which floor Trump was staying on in his hotel.
The New York Times reported that the US received several intelligence inputs indicating such a threat. Two American officials familiar with the intelligence told The New York Times that there was a threat of a surface-to-air missile against the aircraft carrying Trump. Reports suggest that a person was also seen near the NATO summit venue with a shoulder-fired missile.
According to the Trump administration, the intelligence was considered so serious that a detailed decoy operation was conducted for security. Trump publicly boarded the old Air Force One, but was secretly hidden inside a catering container and taken out of the airport, then transferred to a military aircraft that took him out of Turkey. Air Force One departed with senior US officials, government employees, journalists, and military personnel. Apparently, this aircraft was used as a decoy. The passengers on the plane were not informed of the full seriousness of the threat.
The New York Times reported,
This operation possibly diverted the threat from Trump to others on the President's aircraft. The plane included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Basent, and senior White House aides Stephen Miller and Steven Cheung. According to the report, during the flight from Ankara to Britain on July 8, passengers were instructed to keep the window shades closed. Later, Trump secretly rejoined Air Force One and exited the same plane in front of cameras, making it appear as though he had traveled the entire journey on Air Force One.
US officials had only a few hours to prepare an alternative plan for Trump's return. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Kane played a key role in assessing the threat and devising a strategy to counter it. The plan involved using one of the world's most recognizable aircraft as a decoy. Trump publicly boarded the old Air Force One in front of television cameras, stating he would fly on that plane. However, he did not depart Turkey on that aircraft. Trump was secretly removed from the plane, hidden from view, taken to a catering container at the airport, and from there transferred to a C-32A aircraft, a military version of the Boeing 757. This smaller plane then secretly took Trump to Britain, while the President's 747 aircraft departed separately with journalists, White House staff, and senior administration officials.
According to The Times report,
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was aware of the threat. He helped plan the operation and later departed on the decoy aircraft himself.
This unusual security strategy has been criticized by some former White House officials. They argued that,
those on the decoy aircraft should have been given security or at least informed of the threat. Meanwhile, others defended the decision, saying that extraordinary measures might be appropriate for the President's security in the face of a credible threat.
The White House did not respond to questions about the operation. Trump later stated that he followed the advice of the Secret Service. He also dismissed claims that passengers on the other aircraft were put at greater risk. Trump argued that the plane he was traveling on might have been more likely to be targeted.
Notably, Trump has been targeted by conspiracies before. In 2024, during an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a gunman's bullet grazed him. Later that year, another armed individual attempted to target him at his golf course in Florida. However, these assassination attempts were not related to Iranian threats.