President Trump abruptly switched aircraft when leaving Turkey this month after what officials judged to be a credible threat that Iranian proxy forces were targeting him and Air Force One, according to multiple people briefed on the matter.<\/p>\n
The threat emerged while Mr. Trump was attending the NATO summit. He had flown into Ankara on the new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, which lacks the same advanced defensive capabilities of the old Air Force One, as The New York Times previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n After the U.S. government picked up on the threat, the Secret Service urged Mr. Trump to change planes. He later announced that he would be using the old plane to leave the country.<\/p>\n The information about the nature of the threat, which has not been reported before, sheds light on why the White House moved swiftly to swap out the planes. It also underscores the concerns about the security of the donated jet, which Mr. Trump pressed to be ready as soon as possible for his use.<\/p>\n The information that U.S. officials had did not indicate that the proxy forces had any specific focus on the new plane, but rather that they were targeting Mr. Trump and whatever aircraft he was traveling in.<\/p>\n The people briefed on the matter spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity to discuss the information.<\/p>\n The White House did not comment. But in response to questions from The Times, a senior administration official pointed to Mr. Trump\u2019s public remarks about Iran\u2019s efforts to kill him and expressed confidence in the steps taken to protect the president and the traveling delegation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n The details of the threat were not disseminated widely even within the administration; some officials were told only that the switch in planes was a precautionary measure because of general concerns about Iran. Key members of Congress have not been briefed on the specific threat.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump initially said the switch in planes was to give American service members in Britain a chance to tour the new aircraft, and he denied the decision was security related. The Times reported<\/a> that the Secret Service had urged him to switch planes.<\/p>\n After The Times reported this month that federal officials had significant concerns about the security capabilities of the jet, the government launched a leak investigation seeking grand jury testimony from several Times journalists as well as their phone records and those of their relatives. (The Justice Department withdrew the subpoenas on Thursday.)<\/p>\n The president appeared to acknowledge on Sunday that the plane was lacking some of the features that the older Boeings used as Air Force One have, telling a reporter who noted that the Qatari plane lacks antimissile defenses that it would soon be \u201cmaxed out<\/a>.\u201d The roughly 14-year-old plane went through a costly yet relatively rushed process to retrofit the aircraft to serve as Air Force One.<\/p>\n At the time of the swap, there were reports that Israel had shared intelligence with the United States about Iranian efforts to kill Mr. Trump. Some American officials viewed Israel\u2019s intelligence with skepticism, believing it was an effort to provoke Mr. Trump to intensify attacks against Iran.<\/p>\n The threat to Air Force One in Turkey that prompted the change in airplanes was separate from the one attributed to Israeli intelligence, according to some of the people briefed on the matter.<\/p>\n The United States had resumed strikes against Iran while Mr. Trump was in Ankara, roughly 1,000 miles away from Tehran. While at the summit, Mr. Trump also spoke openly about Iranian efforts to try to kill him when asked about why he was swapping out the Qatari-donated jet for the older one.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to take out the U.S. leader \u2014 me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m on every list. I saw this morning, I\u2019m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I\u2019ve been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn\u2019t last very long.\u201d<\/p>\n Forces with ties to Iran have long wanted to assassinate Mr. Trump, dating back to his first term when U.S. forces killed Qassim Suleimani, a top Iranian general.<\/p>\n