Politics
What Trump’s catering-truck escape says about a war that won’t end
Analysis by Stephen Collinson
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/12/poli ... ce=youtube
11 hr ago
Surrounded by security, President Donald Trump switches planes at US Air Force Base, RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, on his way back to Washington from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8. (Alex Brandon/AP)
President
Donald Trump’s use of a catering truck in a secret escape from a NATO country
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/10/politics ... ncerns-af1 amid an Iranian threat is the latest embarrassing twist of a war that repeatedly defies his claims of victory.
The Secret Service did its job by using whatever method was necessary to spirit Trump out of Turkey in July, ultimately on an alternative jet to one that has been bringing presidents home safely since the 1990s.
But belated revelations about the drama, first reported by
the Washington Post,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... ame-decoy/ kicked up a major new political storm. Most significantly, the ruse conjured up damaging new imagery about an unpopular war that Trump can’t end.
The existence of a potential threat against the president doesn’t in itself mean his war against Iran is a failure. But the spectacle of him leaving incognito after a NATO summit is likely to be interpreted overseas as a new affront to American power. It also raises this question: If Trump cannot guarantee his own safety on the territory of a major ally, how can his administration’s case
https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/23/politics ... fact-check that it has all but obliterated Iran’s military capability and regional terror threat be fully believed?
Iran has yet to comment. But its apparent success in metaphorically forcing Trump to take cover is a propaganda coup. For all the president’s bravado, the regime doesn’t seem to be heading for collapse or begging for a deal.
The hijinks at Ankara airport are just the latest occasion when reality has mocked the administration’s rosy war narrative.
Trump on Monday, for instance, insisted yet again
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/11/world/li ... 6sede9xv69 that the Strait of Hormuz was “
open now.” Yet the critical waterway remains effectively under Iran’s control, meaning that US forces have been fighting for months to return to the status quo — and open strait — that prevailed before the war.
Everyone has meanwhile lost count of Trump’s predictions that a deal is imminent,
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/02/world/li ... 6z4rprw78e only for the stalemate to grind on.
In another sign of apparent US strategic disarray, the war that Trump declared won after a few days has seriously depleted US missile stocks, including nearly 80% of interceptors for a key missile defense system,
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/04/politics ... eptors-low CNN reported last week.
Trump ‘hates anything like this’
President Donald Trump holds a press briefing at the White House after a man with a gun stormed the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, DC, on April 25. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Oddly, given their position, presidents often travel through scruffy locations, since security precautions force them to enter buildings through underground garages, back entrances, kitchens and service elevators. So even the kingpin of gold-plated Mar-a-Lago may not have been too shocked to slum it in a hydraulic catering truck in Ankara.
But Trump’s clandestine departure from Turkey sits poorly with the president’s self-image as a winner and a strongman.
Even when bloodied and rumpled after an 2024 assassination attempt, he rose, pumped his fist and said “
fight, fight.” When a gunman tried to rush the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/26/politics ... rump-drama in April, Trump went on TV to insist he wouldn’t be intimidated and the show must go on.
Donald Trump absolutely hates anything like this,
the president’s first-term communications director
Alyssa Farah Griffin told CNN’s
Phil Mattingly on “
The Lead” Tuesday.
He hated when he had to go to the bunker because of the threat environment in the White House … He wanted to go back immediately to show he’s not scared, he’s not running.
Griffin, now a CNN commentator, added,
This speaks to me that this was a very real threat. If he’s willing to take these measures and to do it. It speaks to the moment we’re in, in the Middle East.
Trump’s tarmac bait-and-switch also fueled new controversy over the presidential plane fleet, since he’d previously abandoned plans to fly his new red, white, and blue jet donated by Qatar, which critics warn lacks sufficient security systems for a president. The president and the White House have denied that a threat led them to resort to a backup aircraft.
People board Air Force One at Ankara Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Then, there’s the issue
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/11/media/tr ... -plane-af1 of whether staff, Secret Service agents, journalists and crew were in mortal danger when they took off on a plane that Trump had been shown on television boarding minutes previously — before secretly leaving.
On Tuesday, Trump was asked by reporters why it was considered too dangerous for him to fly on one of the planes usually used as Air Force One while the same did not apply to members of the press.
The plane that I flew on was at greater risk … because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for,
the president said.
But his comment didn’t answer the question at issue, because by climbing aboard the presidential jet, he’d given every impression he planned to travel on it — before his unannounced departure.
Illinois Gov.
JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, told CNN’s
Erin Burnett Tuesday that Trump
put people in harm’s way to save himself — that’s who Donald Trump is.
Pritzker then tied the incident to the wider war, saying,
He’s willing to put troops in harm’s way … he slinked away literally in a catering truck while the reporters and his own staff were on a plane that apparently was under threat.
Pritzker’s comments put the drama at the center of the midterm election battle. And there will likely be investigations if Democrats win one or both chambers of Congress in November.
Trump may spend the rest of his life facing threats from Iran
An Iranian flag is waved under a billboard with graphic showing Strait of Hormuz and the sewn lips of President Donald Trump, in downtown Tehran, Iran, on May 6. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
Trump, who has survived at least two direct assassination attempts, is likely to spend the rest of his life under the threat of an attack from Iran. His exposure dates to his first term, when he ordered an attack that killed Iranian general
Qasem Soleimani.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/03/asia/sol ... e-intl-hnk
Iran’s incentive grew when Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/28/middleea ... i-hnk-intl was killed in US and Israeli air strikes at the start of the current war.
Choreographed displays of defiance at Khamenei’s funeral in July saw protesters demand the death of the president. So there is good reason for the Secret Service to take any intelligence about possible attacks seriously. There have been past reports of killings of Iranians opposed to the Tehran government in Turkey, and the Iranian regime has been one of the world’s most prominent exporters of terrorism.
I do find it entirely plausible that there might be a serious threat to the president by some Iranian-backed entity. The US, the UK, a number of European states have foiled or disrupted Iranian-backed attacks over the last several years, frankly going back decades,
retired US Army Lt. Gen.
Karen Gibson said on “
The Lead” Tuesday.
They’ve demonstrated an intent and a capacity to do this.
Trump warned in July that 1,000 missiles were
Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow
if it attempted or succeeded in assassinating him.
In practice, any response to the death of a president would not be decided by orders he left behind, but by his successor, in this case, Vice President
JD Vance. A need to restore US deterrence and credibility would likely mandate a massive US escalation.
Still, it’s notable that Trump did not respond to his indecorous departure from Turkey with an emotional response of his own. Perhaps his success in keeping it quiet until now saved face. But he has also consistently reached forks in the road and balked at mission creep
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/04/politics ... -of-hormuz that could result in heavy US casualties.
It’s possible that the Secret Service’s actions in Turkey may have averted an attack that could have drawn the US deeper into a quagmire.
But Trump’s furtive flight from Turkey makes it much harder for him to argue he’s made the world safer.
_____________
News | War on Iran
Turkey suspects Israel fabricated Trump Air Force One assassination plot to derail US-Iran deal
Israeli intelligence had warned that Iranian operatives could target Trump’s plane with shoulder-fired missiles during the Nato summit in Ankara amid tense negotiations with Tehran
US President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One upon his arrival at Etimesgut Air Base near Ankara, on 7 July 2026, to attend the 36th Nato Heads of State and Government Summit (Osmancan Gurdogan/AFP)
Ragip Soylu in Istanbul, Turkey
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turk ... -iran-deal
11 August 2026
Turkish
https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/turkey officials suspect that an Israeli
https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel intelligence report
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/trum ... ation-plot that said Iran
https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/iran planned to assassinate US President
Donald Trump https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us during the Ankara Nato summit last month was a ruse to undermine negotiations with Tehran, Middle East Eye has learnt.
It was around 2pm on 8 July when journalists heard that Turkish security forces were unusually deploying additional units to Ankara Airport, where Trump’s Air Force One was parked.
Ankara was under lockdown for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) summit
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/nato ... s-at-stake on 7-8 July. Roads were blocked, pavements were closed, public servants had been granted a week of administrative leave, and the city was largely deserted.
The Turkish government had even transformed an airbase of the Turkish Air Force, Etimesgut Air Base, officially known as Ankara Airport, for the event, allowing heads of state to reach the summit venue within 10 minutes.
Against the backdrop of these extensive security precautions, US officials told their Turkish counterparts that they had received an intelligence report from Israel suggesting Iran could target Trump.
People familiar with the matter told MEE that the report warned an Iranian covert operations unit could target Trump’s brand-new Air Force One near Ankara Airport.
Supposedly, the Iranians could target the aircraft from within a one-kilometre radius using shoulder-fired missiles known as Manpads,
one person familiar with the matter told MEE.
Unlike Esenboga Airport, the international airport serving the Turkish capital, Ankara Airport is surrounded by civilian buildings, some of which are as close as 500 metres to the runway. Their proximity prompted Turkish officials to take additional precautions.
The people familiar with the issue added that the US Secret Service wanted to take further protective measures. Officials first moved Trump’s departure from Ankara Airport to Esenboga Airport, where civilian buildings are farther from the perimeter. They then brought back the old Air Force One because it had air defence systems that the new aircraft lacked.
The threat of an Iranian attempt on Trump’s life appeared credible to many US officials, as Iran had reportedly tried to orchestrate such an attack twice before.
In July 2024, Pakistani national
Asif Merchant was arrested over an alleged plot to kill US politicians, potentially including Trump. Then, in November 2024, the justice department announced charges against Afghan national
Farhad Shakeri, alleging that Iran’s government had instructed him to devise a plan to assassinate Trump. Iran has denied targeting Trump or other American officials.
The Secret Service took the latest report so seriously that, according to
The Washington Post, Trump was secretly moved after boarding the old Air Force One. He was reportedly bundled
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... ame-decoy/ into a catering vehicle and taken to an accompanying US government aircraft, a C-32.
A Turkish official confirmed to MEE that US officials had sought additional landing permits for the C-32 as part of the plan and pushed for last-minute changes, leaving Ankara with the impression that something was amiss.
Yet the Israeli intelligence report arrived at a sensitive moment. Trump was negotiating a deal with Iran to end the war
https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/war-on-iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
During his meeting with Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump repeatedly said that the war with Iran had ended and expressed hope about the negotiations, a source who attended the meeting told MEE.
That position sharply contradicted the agenda of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, who was pushing for a resumption of hostilities, including heavier strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure and a new assassination campaign targeting Iranian leaders.
'No way this report was true'
Turkish officials now say they believe the Israeli intelligence report was probably a ruse by Netanyahu’s government to portray itself as protecting Trump, derail negotiations with Iran and undermine Trump’s apparently close relationship with Erdogan.
During his meeting with the Turkish head of state the day before the alleged assassination plot, Trump also signalled that he was prepared to lift sanctions imposed on Turkey over its 2019 purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile system
https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/russia and to sell F-35 fighter jets to Ankara. Netanyahu also strongly opposes F-35 sales to Ankara, arguing that it would change the balance of power in the region, eroding Israel's "
Qualitative Military Edge".
https://www.middleeasteye.net/explainer ... itary-edge
Of course, we took the report very seriously and tried to assist our American counterparts as much as possible,
one person familiar with the matter told MEE.
Yet it was very clear to us that there was no way this report was true.
Although Iranian cells have previously kidnapped or assassinated Iranian dissidents in Turkey, Tehran has never dared to carry out a sophisticated operation there involving anything beyond a simple firearm.
'I guess they need heroes for an attack that never happened and, most likely, was never planned'
- Ankara insider
Such an attack would require extensive knowledge of the country, as well as safe houses, covert routes into and out of Ankara, and the transportation of Manpads through numerous roadblocks and security checkpoints ahead of the summit.
An attempt of this kind could also put Turkey on a collision course with Iran, which has managed to maintain relatively stable relations with Ankara since the beginning of the war.
Iranian officials have publicly thanked Turkey several times for not supporting what they described as a Mossad-CIA plot to trigger an insurrection in western Iran with the involvement of armed Iranian Kurdish groups.
An Ankara insider told MEE it was ironic that details of the Secret Service operation to protect Trump had been leaked just a month after the summit.
I guess they need heroes for an attack that never happened and, most likely, was never planned,
the insider said.
MEE has reached out to the White House and Israeli foreign ministry for comment.
