The Secret Service flew U.S. President Donald Trump out of Ankara, Turkey on a decoy aircraft last month in response to an assassination threat from Iran, according to the Washington Post (WaPo).
Trump was moved by catering truck to a smaller Air Force C-32A plane and flown to the United Kingdom, while the press pool traveling with him believed he remained aboard the larger presidential aircraft, the report stated. Reporters on the original plane were told to close window shades during takeoff. The White House said the instruction came from the Secret Service.
The threat was described in the report as the latest in a series of state-sponsored attempts against the president. U.S. intelligence intercepts have suggested Iran may be triggering covert operatives abroad and issuing direct warnings to eliminate Trump, according to published accounts [1] [2].
Iran Threats Against Trump
Threats from Iran follow Trump's decision to order the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a move previous administrations avoided over retaliation concerns, according to the report. The 2024 Trump campaign said it was briefed on "real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him," according to the campaign.
Retired Secret Service agent Timothy Reboulet described the threat as "deadly serious," according to the report. "It all goes back to Soleimani," he added.
U.S. intelligence intercepted an encrypted message from Iran that appeared to be an "operational trigger” for sleeper cells embedded in foreign countries, raising alarms about potential attacks. The intercepts came amid ongoing conflict following the airstrike death of Iran's former supreme leader, the reports stated.
The broader U.S.-Iran conflict, launched in late February 2026 as Operation Epic Fury, has intensified the threat environment for U.S. officials [3]. The paused war has remained at an inflection point, with Trump facing a legally mandated deadline to seek congressional authorization to continue the conflict [4]. Other former U.S. officials, including John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, have also been reported as targets of Iranian assassination plots, the report said.
Plane Swap and Secrecy
After announcing he would take the older presidential aircraft from Turkey to the U.K., Trump boarded that plane but was secretly moved to a smaller C-32A via catering truck, WaPo reported. The White House has not confirmed or denied WaPo's account but issued a statement saying the new Air Force One includes "high-level security protocols," according to the report.
A former senior White House official described the episode as an example of a lack of transparency by the Trump administration, the report stated. Press access to presidential movements has been a recurring point of contention, and security communications have faced scrutiny since the July 2024 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, where law enforcement agencies were aware of an armed individual within the perimeter for 92 minutes before the incident [5].
Historical Precedent and Criticism
The use of decoy aircraft has historical precedent. In 2000, President Bill Clinton used an unmarked white plane to fly from Mumbai to Pakistan as a decoy, with no specific threat reported at the time, according to Clinton-era officials cited in the report. The decoy plane and vehicles were part of a strategy to prevent potential assailants from targeting the president, those officials said.
Decoy operations have long been part of security planning. During World War II, proposals included suspending a gigantic canvas painted to look like the countryside over London and positioning a scale reproduction of the British Isles elsewhere as a decoy [6].
Military planners also used the term "decoy" to describe operations they considered strategically distracting; U.S. Army Chief of Staff George Marshall described the Balkans as "a dangerous decoy." [7].
Critics argue Trump should have disclosed the aircraft change to the media after landing safely rather than allowing the story to surface weeks later. The former senior White House official said the press and junior staff on the decoy plane should have been briefed once Trump left the threat area, according to the report.
Security Response
Reboulet expressed confidence in the Secret Service's ability to protect Trump, saying behind the scenes they are "doing what needs to be done based on the threat." He noted that state-sponsored threats involve proxies and are unpredictable, adding, "You never know who it's going to come from," according to the report.
The Secret Service has taken steps to harden Trump's security, including a bulletproof glass enclosure at outdoor events [5]. Presidential movement operations rely on layered security and redundant communications systems designed to function under threat conditions [8]. The Secret Service has not publicly detailed the Ankara operation, and officials have not commented on the press pool's safety during the plane swap.
References
- Steve Watson. "Iran Sleeper Cells 'Activated'; Threaten To 'Eliminate' Trump". Zero Hedge. March 11, 2026.
- "Iran Sleeper Cells 'Activated'; Threaten To 'Eliminate' Trump". Modernity.news. March 10, 2026.
- "The Netanyahu Gambit: How Trump Walked America Into an Iranian War Trap". NaturalNews.com. March 2, 2026.
- "Trump At A Crossroads For Continuing The War With Iran". The War Zone. April 30, 2026.
- Mike Adams. "Mike Adams interview with Roger Stone". August 23, 2024.
- James Hayward. "Myths & Legends of the Second World War".
- Nigel Hamilton. "War and Peace FDR's Final Odyssey: D-Day to Yalta 1943–1945".
- Annie Jacobsen. "Nuclear War: A Scenario".
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