US Assessment: Israeli Warning of Iranian Threat Against Trump Was Unfounded

US intelligence agencies are casting doubt on the severity of the Iranian threat to Air Force One during Trump's visit to the NATO summit in Turkey. The Israeli warning was passed hastily without reliability checks, and the Americans classified it as not significant or imminent, but chose not to take a risk and smuggled the president to an alternative plane via a catering truck.

US intelligence agencies are casting doubt on the severity of the Iranian threat to attack Air Force One during US President Donald Trump's visit to the NATO summit in Turkey, according to a report on ABC. Intelligence officials told the network that the unusual step, during which Trump was smuggled from the presidential plane to another plane, was born from an Israeli warning about the possibility of a shoulder-fired missile being shot at the plane. The warning was passed to US intelligence as Trump was preparing to leave Ankara. The report details that Israeli officials did not have enough time to examine the reliability of the information, and they chose to pass it on because of the short time until the president's departure. Intelligence sources who spoke with NBC said that the US classified the suspicion as not constituting a significant or imminent threat, but the decision was not to take a risk and to recommend increased security, which led to his transfer to a catering truck and from there to an alternative plane. Trump told journalists that he acted according to the Secret Service's instructions. Trump has been defined by senior officials in the Iranian regime as a primary target since the elimination of Qasem Soleimani in 2020, and threats have increased after the elimination of Ali Khamenei at the start of the American-Israeli attack on Iran in March.