Trump Flees Ankara in Catering Truck After Israeli Warning of Iranian Plot in Türkiye

The CIA had 'low confidence' in the intelligence, but the secret operation underscored the strain between Washington and its ally. Trump launched his war on Iran after receiving an intelligence briefing from Israel that Tehran was on the brink of acquiring a nuclear weapon. Six months into the conflict, he is struggling to find an exit strategy from a war that has upended the global economy and shrunk his domestic popularity.

Israel, which once urged him to act, is no longer striking Iranian targets. Cracks in the relationship between Trump and his long-time friend Benjamin Netanyahu have emerged in the past three months, with the US president privately lashing out at the Israeli prime minister for attacks on Lebanon and jeopardising a peace deal with Iran. Earlier this week, it emerged that Trump took a secret military flight from Turkey to flee an Iranian assassination threat based on Israeli intelligence.

The operation involved the US president being moved between aircraft in a catering truck to safely leave the Nato summit in Ankara for Britain. Trump's own intelligence agencies were unconvinced by the tipoff.