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Trump was quietly moved to a separate military jet after an Iranian threat during the NATO summit return. The decoy flight carrying Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent underlined the extraordinary security risks around presidential travel.
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Washington,UPDATED: Aug 13, 2026 08:44 IST
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent left last month’s NATO summit in Turkiye on what was effectively a decoy plane after an Iranian threat, while President Donald Trump was secretly moved to a smaller military jet, a senior US official said on Wednesday.
The official, who was briefed on the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details of presidential travel, said the move was part of added security precautions. Journalists and some White House staff members were led to believe Trump was on the same plane as they began the journey back to Washington.
The official said Rubio was aware of the switch and the details of the threat behind it, but could not or would not say why he stayed on the plane. The official said Bessent was likely aware, but was not certain. The official added that security precautions for the president, especially one who has been the target of several assassination attempts, are more extensive than those for even top Cabinet members. Under the US Constitution, the secretaries of state and treasury are in the presidential line of succession after the vice president and the highest-ranking member of each chamber of Congress.
Trump had travelled to the annual gathering of NATO leaders in Ankara in a newly retrofitted red, white and navy blue jet gifted by Qatar. Before leaving Turkiye, however, he said he would fly part of the way home on an older baby blue Air Force One aircraft instead. At the time, Trump said the new luxury jet was being flown out ahead of his departure from Ankara so that US troops based in eastern England could see the new Air Force One.
The Washington Post reported this week that Trump was not on the old Air Force One for the return flight from Turkiye and had instead been moved onto another jet through a catering cart to avoid a possible Iranian assassination plot. The New York Times and CBS News had reported last month that intelligence officials had raised concerns about a possible attack on the president or his aircraft, prompting extra precautions and the decision not to use the newly introduced Qatari-gifted plane for the first leg of the trip home from Ankara.
Trump acknowledged the transfer late on Tuesday. “It’s only up to the Secret Service. I just follow what they’d like to do, so I go by Secret Service and the military,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it, I do what they say.” In sum, the return journey from the NATO summit involved a decoy aircraft carrying Rubio and Bessent, while Trump was moved separately amid security concerns linked to an Iranian threat.
With PTI Inputs
- Ends
Published By:
India Today Web Desk
Published On:
Aug 13, 2026 08:44 IST
