TheChek News Flow

Worries the president’s new plane lacked defensive capabilities as well as an Israeli warning about a possible threat

A lack of defensive capabilities aboard President Trump’s new luxury jet led him to fly home from Turkey aboard an older Air Force One plane this week after U.S. officials received Israeli intelligence about a possible plot to kill him, according to U.S. officials.

That threat was deemed not to be entirely credible, according to some of those officials.

But the information, combined with Trump’s proximity to Iran as hostilities were resuming, was enough that the Secret Service, the White House’s military office and some national security staff determined Trump’s preferred plane—a jet gifted by the Qatari government and overhauled by the U.S. Air Force—wasn’t adequate to fly the president home, the officials said.

Trump ordered new military strikes on Iran earlier this week after Iran attacked ships in the Strait of Hormuz, raising concerns that Tehran would retaliate against U.S. allies across the Middle East.

The president flew the newer, overhauled jet to attend a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Ankara, Turkey, earlier this week. But he switched planes en route to Washington, flying the older version of Air Force One to the U.K. before re-boarding the new plane to fly home.

Trump denied Wednesday there was a security concern that prompted the decision to switch planes, insisting the new Qatari-donated plane was headed to the U.K. so troops stationed there could see it. When asked whether he was aware of any credible threat from Iran against Air Force One, the president replied that he faces threats “all the time” and that he is “number one on their list.”

White House communications director Steven Cheung said the luxury plane “has been fitted with high-level security protocols” to ensure the president’s safety.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Israel shared new intelligence with the U.S. that it said indicated a fresh Iranian plan to kill Trump. The New York Times reported earlier that Trump flew aboard his older plane as a security precaution.

Trump said on social media on Friday night that should Iran act on the threat to assassinate him, “Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran.”

Some U.S. officials said they were concerned that Israel shared the intelligence to influence U.S. decision-making toward a return to all-out war with Iran, noting that one piece of intelligence in isolation often provides a fragmentary look at a possible threat. Iran knows that targeting Trump could lead to a more robust military response, officials said.

While Trump has shown a preference for diplomacy, Israel would like to see a return to the bombing campaign to continue degrading Iran, according to people familiar with the matter. Israeli military officials have continued to plan for additional targets in Iran since the end of the campaign, according to military officials, even as Trump has sought the diplomatic track.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy said Israel shares intelligence with the U.S. because of the close partnership between the two countries and not to advocate for a hidden agenda like advocating for war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“The Cease Fire is OVER!” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social while noting the U.S. had agreed to further negotiations with Iran.

Air Force Gen. Dale White, who oversaw the U.S. military effort to overhaul the Qatari plane into one that could transport the president, said in an interview earlier this year that the service didn’t take any shortcuts when it comes to security aboard the plane. But the Air Force also said in a June statement that the government “made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets.”

The precise defensive capabilities of Air Force One are classified.

The jet was gifted to the U.S. by the Qatari government last year after Trump complained that the planes he was required to fly on as president were too old and small. Former officials said there are significant engineering challenges to overhauling a plane to be capable enough to carry a president in complicated threat environments.

Frank Kendall, who served as U.S. Air Force secretary during the Biden administration, said it should take three to four years to retrofit a 747 plane with a full suite of defensive capabilities required to keep the president safe.

“It’s a lot of major modifications to the airplane—it’s not simple,” Kendall said. “You have to think of the airplane as just a box into which you put an awful lot of things to make it Air Force One. The airplane cost about $250 million or so. Air Force One cost about $2 billion, so there’s a huge difference.”

Current and former government officials predict Trump will likely use the Qatari plane less in overseas travel. “I would have expected them to only use it in the United States, so I was a little surprised when they took it to Turkey,” Kendall said.

The expected Iranian response and broader conflict with Iran was also a consideration for the plane switch, the officials said.