Threats from Iran-backed terrorist proxies are behind US President Donald Trump’s decision to switch aircraft as he departed from a NATO summit in Turkey earlier in July, rather than flying home in the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One he arrived in, according to The New York Times on Friday.
The NYT, citing several anonymous sources familiar with the matter, said that Trump was urged to change aircraft by the Secret Service following identification of a credible threat by US intelligence.
Some Trump administration officials reportedly received only partial briefing on the threat and were told that the change in aircraft was made out of precaution due to the general threat of Iran, according to the NYT. Some key members of Congress were also not fully briefed on details of the threat.
According to the report, the Iranian proxies intended to target the president and would have targeted any aircraft he boarded, rather than specifically targeting the new Air Force One.
A senior Trump administration official told the NYT that he was confident in the US government’s ability to protect the president, noting Trump’s previous comments on Iranian efforts to assassinate him.
The White House did not respond to a NYT request for comment.
The report comes following Trump’s comments on Monday regarding pending security upgrades for the Qatari-gifted aircraft.
“It has a lot of capability,” said Trump. “But as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re gonna send it to have it be maxed out… It’ll take about a month.”
At the time, Trump said his decision to switch to an older Air Force One aircraft for his flight from Turkey to the UK was done “for old time’s sake.”
Notably, the US president stopped in the UK on his way back to the US, where he switched back to traveling in the new Air Force One.
The new aircraft, refitted by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies, is meant to serve as a temporary replacement as Boeing struggles to deliver two purpose-built 747-8s under a $3.9 billion fixed-price contract signed in 2018.
Reuters contributed to this report.
