Trump 'hid in a catering lorry' for secret flight amid Iran threat

President Trump hid in a catering lorry and used an Air Force One aircraft as a decoy plane to mitigate an Iranian assassination threat, according to reports. The clandestine operation is believed to have used Air Force One as a decoy while the president flew on a smaller plane from last month's Nato summit. The clandestine operation took place last month as the president flew back from a Nato summit in Turkey, according to the Washington Post. Trump had arrived in Ankara a few days earlier on a new Air Force One plane, a renovated jet donated by Qatar. The president then said he would return to the United States on the previous Air Force One 'for old time's sake'. Journalists and some White House staff members were unaware of the ruse, it is believed, and thought they were on the same plane as the president. While on the flight, the journalists who thought they were travelling with Trump reported being advised to keep their window shades in the press cabin closed. When asked later by reporters why they had to keep their shades shut during the flight, Trump said it was because they were 'probably on a dangerous flight'. He added: 'But if I go, you go. Right?' Trump's travelling press pool said that he climbed down the stairs of Air Force One at 10.56 pm local time. He gave journalists a peace sign but did not walk over to talk to them. The president then spent some time greeting service members before walking to the new, Qatar-donated plane. Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, boarded the C-32A separately to Trump, on a set of external stairs, to make the flight on the smaller aircraft appear routine, the Washington Post reported. The C-32A carrying Trump and Hegseth flew to Britain for a layover, arriving just after 10pm on July 8. The legacy Air Force One arrived just minutes later, the newspaper added. It is not clear how Trump was moved from the C-32A back to the older Air Force One. The Secret Service has not commented on the report. The manoeuvre meant that Trump's whereabouts was concealed from the public for several hours, a rarity in American politics, where journalists have frequently flown with the president into war zones, including under Trump. A similar operation did take place in 2000, however, when President Clinton used an unmarked executive jet to fly into Pakistan while sending his formal Air Force One as a decoy. The decision for the president not to fly home on the former Qatari plane took place as Tehran and Washington resumed hostilities, while reports emerged that Israeli intelligence had been shared with the US, indicating there was a fresh Iranian plot to kill the president. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said on Monday: 'The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff. As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.'