Trump left Turkey in secret due to an Iranian threat: a decoy plane was used to protect him

United States President Donald Trump was moved hidden in a cart used to transport luggage and personnel before leaving Turkey after participating in the NATO summit, on a return trip to the United States in which a second plane was used as a decoy due to the threat from Iran, according to local media reports on Monday.

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According to senior White House officials cited by The New York Times and The Washington Post, U.S. authorities developed a secret strategy to discretely remove Trump from Turkey during the NATO summit held last month.

The plan was designed after intelligence services detected a credible threat from Iran against the presidential plane.

The threat was specifically directed against Air Force One, according to the officials cited by both newspapers, so the security measures sought to prevent anyone from determining which of the aircraft was transporting the president.

Trump was taken in a service cart from the area where he was to a military plane that was waiting for his return to the United States.

As part of the operation, another presidential plane also took off from Turkey to act as a decoy and make it difficult for potential attackers to identify the aircraft in which Trump was traveling.

The maneuver was part of a broader security apparatus to hide the president's movements and reduce the risk that he could be located during the journey.

At that time, Trump denied that the change of plane was in response to an Iranian threat and said that the new Air Force One would fly to the United Kingdom so that U.S. military personnel could see it.

When asked if there was a credible threat against the aircraft, he replied: "I have a threat all the time. I'm number one on their list."