ANKARA, Turkey — President Trump abruptly announced Wednesday that he would not fly out of Turkey aboard his luxurious new Air Force One — stoking speculation that the Qatar-donated jet may be vulnerable to Iranian fire as the war resumes.
Trump instead departed the annual NATO summit using the older model of Air Force One, which he had stopped using last week in favor of the $400 million “palace on wings” that he has proudly boasted about acquiring.
The president claimed on social media the plane switch was so that US troops in England could “tour” the upgrade — but speculation swirled after he spent the day repeatedly mentioning Iran’s interest in killing him.
Trump declined to deny at a press conference that security concerns played a role.
“I’m number one on the kill list for Iran. They’re lovely people,” Trump told a Post reporter who asked if security concerns motivated the switch.
Earlier in the day, Trump had said, “They want to take out the US leader, me … And so far, I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky. But that maybe doesn’t last very long.”
When a New York Times reporter pressed Trump over the choice of plane, he said: “It’s flying to Europe, to one of the big bases, two or three of the big bases, where we can show it to the people, and we’ll be going home by normal methods.”
Trump had proudly shown off the plane on its initial trips — including a pair of domestic flights last week — and bragged about its glamorous trappings upon arriving Tuesday in the Turkish capital.
The older model of Air Force One is believed to have anti-missile defenses — prompting authorities to strictly prohibit up-close photos of its rear.
It’s unclear if the new presidential jet also has anti-missile technology.
Trump ordered a barrage of airstrikes on Iran overnight and declared his fledgling peace deal effectively dead — threatening another round of airstrikes Wednesday evening and teasing the possible seizure of the Kharg Island oil depot and reimposition of a naval blockade.
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The president’s initial social media statement said the plane switch was “to honor our brave men and women of the Military.”
“We are sending the brand new, and truly spectacular, Air Force One to Mildenhall Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom, to give them a chance to tour the Aircraft — Everybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first,” Trump wrote.
“For old time’s sake, we’ll be taking the former Air Force One, from Turkey to Mildenhall, a short trip that is totally worth doing in order to give our Great Military Heroes a chance to appreciate our beautiful new addition to the Air Force Fleet!”
Retired Army Gen. Robert Abrams told ABC News that security around the Ankara airport “was probably a concern” and that “it had to be significant enough, I think, in this case for President Trump to agree not to fly out on it.”
Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA official, tweeted that he believed the plane was “not equipped with [an] appropriate comms/force pro[tection]/security package” for international duty and that “Secret Service and US [Air Force] pleas must have won out.”
