US intelligence officials had doubts about the credibility of an alleged Iranian assassination threat against President Donald Trump that was relayed by Israel and contributed to an extraordinary security operation during his departure from Türkiye last month, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Citing current and former US officials familiar with the intelligence, the report said CIA analysts did not consider the Israeli-provided information compelling and communicated their scepticism to Trump administration officials.
One US official described the reporting as “Israeli-derived, not US-generated, and viewed as low confidence,” according to the Post.
The intelligence concerns add a new dimension to the elaborate security measures taken when Trump departed Ankara following the NATO summit on July 8.
The Post previously reported that the president was moved secretly from a legacy Air Force One to a third aircraft after concerns emerged about whether a new Boeing 747-8 aircraft gifted to the US by Qatar had adequate security protections for the departure.
Trump was reportedly transported from the airport’s Air Force One aircraft to a C-32A military plane in an airport catering truck. He and a small group of aides then flew to Britain’s Mildenhall air base. The aircraft was escorted by F-16 fighter jets.
Extraordinary precautions
The White House did not directly address questions about the intelligence assessment. A US official said the president has faced numerous threats, including from Iran, and that all necessary measures were taken to protect him.
"As the president has said, he has faced numerous threats on his life, including ones from Iran, and every measure is taken to ensure his safety,” a US official was quoted as saying in a statement.
"The United States Secret Service’s core mission is protecting the president, which they achieved."
The CIA declined to comment, while the Israeli Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to the newspaper’s request for details.
Despite questions about the intelligence, US officials said the Secret Service ultimately decided that the potential threat warranted extraordinary precautions.
“The Secret Service has had three near misses with this president, so they’re not taking any chances,” one official told the Post.
Trump himself said on Tuesday that the decision to use another aircraft was made by the Secret Service.
“It’s really just up to Secret Service. I just follow what they like to do,” he said, according to the Post. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety … I do what they say.”
Israel’s motives under scrutiny
The reported doubts have also raised questions over why Israel shared the intelligence with Washington and whether the information was intended solely as a warning or could have been aimed at influencing US policy.
According to the Post, some current and former US intelligence officials believed the Israeli reporting may have been intended in part to influence Trump’s decision-making and Washington’s approach to the region.
It “fit a broader pattern of Israeli intelligence reporting that some officials see as designed as much to shape presidential decision-making as to inform it,” a former official familiar with the matter said, according to the report.
The report also said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was briefed on both the Israeli intelligence and the Secret Service’s planned operation. According to the former official cited by the Post, Rubio nevertheless boarded the legacy Air Force One aircraft.
