"Iran Knew Even the Floor of the Hotel Where Trump Stayed During NATO Summit"

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 11th (local time) that U.S. authorities had detected a specific assassination threat against U.S. President Donald Trump during the NATO summit held in Ankara, Turkey, last month.

Two anonymous U.S. officials said, "U.S. intelligence agencies collected information through various channels," adding, "They detected the existence of a specific threat of surface-to-air missiles targeting Air Force One, regardless of which aircraft President Trump was on."

They continued, "We also ascertained that an individual carrying a portable shoulder-fired missile was spotted near the NATO summit venue," and added, "The Iranian side even knew the exact floor of the hotel where President Trump was staying in Ankara."

The NYT explained that the U.S. government judged this intelligence to be sufficiently credible and therefore unusually carried out a deception operation to "extract" President Trump out of Turkey.

Leaving the Ankara airport on the 8th of last month, President Trump staged a scene of boarding an older model Air Force One, then secretly slipped through a door on the opposite side of the aircraft into a catering container, transferred to a military transport plane, and headed for the United Kingdom.

The C-32A transport plane carrying President Trump landed at RAF Mildenhall in the UK with its tracking system turned off, using an ordinary call sign, "Reach 18," instead of "Air Force One," the air traffic control call sign assigned to the aircraft carrying the U.S. president.

Upon arriving in the UK, President Trump hurriedly transferred back to Air Force One so that reporters would not notice, and then appeared before the cameras to encourage U.S. service members.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.