Middle East: Trump took secret flight out of Turkey over Iran threat

In a surprising turn of events, US President Donald Trump reportedly departed Turkey on a secret military flight in July, rather than the Air Force One plane announced by the White House, amid a credible Iranian assassination threat, according to the Washington Post. The President opted for an older Air Force One plane on this occasion, a decision that sparked questions about the safety of the donated jet he had used at the NATO summit earlier that month.

The White House did not directly address the report, but communications director Steven Cheung stated that various measures were being employed to counter potential threats. The secret flight operation involved the President boarding the older aircraft in front of cameras before being covertly transported by an airport catering truck to a smaller plane, an Air Force C-32A, according to corroborating material and a US official familiar with the operation.

Journalists on the decoy Air Force One were instructed to keep their window shades closed, reportedly due to the dangerous nature of the flight, a claim Trump himself confirmed when asked. This secret departure came amid escalating tensions between the US and Iran, with both sides unwilling to concede, and global crude oil prices fluctuating in response, reaching the highest levels since July 31, before stabilizing.