
CIA analysts expressed doubts to the Donald Trump administration about Israeli intelligence information regarding a suspected Iranian plot to assassinate the US president.
According to a report by The Washington Post, this information was the reason Trump secretly left Turkey on a military plane after changing planes at Ankara airport last month.
According to current and former US officials cited by the newspaper, Israel had informed the CIA of the threat, but US analysts did not find the information convincing. One of them described it as information “coming from Israel, not generated by the US” and with a low level of credibility.
However, another official said the Secret Service could not take risks, noting that the president had experienced several near-dangerous incidents.
"They did what they had to do," he said.
According to the report, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was informed of the threat but decided to travel on the plane suspected of being targeted, which may indicate that he had a certain level of confidence that the plane was safe.
The White House did not directly comment on the report, while a US official said that Trump has faced "multiple threats" to his life, including from Iran, and that all necessary measures are being taken to guarantee the president's security.
Trump was in Ankara for a NATO summit when he decided to secretly leave Air Force One and board a military plane. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, US intelligence had received information that Iran could use surface-to-air missiles, including wing-launched missiles, to hit the presidential plane.
Even, according to American sources, Iranian authorities allegedly had identified Trump's exact location in Ankara, down to the floor of the hotel where he was staying.
The threats against Trump come at a time when US-Iran tensions remain high. The Iranian regime has publicly threatened to assassinate the US president since 2020, following the US killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
The latest reports add another element to the concerns of American authorities about the security of Trump, who has been the subject of several threats and suspected assassination plots.