President Donald Trump has confirmed that he secretly switched planes as he departed a NATO summit in Turkey last month due to a possible threat. "I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane," Trump told reporters, adding, "I just have to do what they say."

The revelation follows reports that Trump boarded the presidential jet, Air Force One, on July 8 in view of television cameras, only to be hidden in a catering truck and transported to a military aircraft. This last-minute maneuver has sparked questions about the safety of those left on the decoy plane.

Trump stated that the jet he ultimately boarded could have been at greater risk. "because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for," he explained. Officials informed CBS News, the US partner of the BBC, that the U.S. had detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at the plane. The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence had information about an individual near the summit seen with a shoulder-fired missile.

Journalists and some White House staff on board the original flight were unaware that the president had been secretly removed as part of an elaborate ruse in response to the potential Iranian threat. Trump had previously asserted that he was Iran's "number one target" during the summit in Ankara.

"I guess there was a threat out there," the president said during a visit aboard Air Force One to an event in Ohio on Tuesday. "I didn't really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats." He further commented, "I have a lot of threats that you don't know about."

The clandestine operation occurred the day after the U.S. renewed military strikes on Iran following a collapse in negotiations between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending the war. Trump had arrived in Turkey aboard a newer Boeing 747-8, a gift from Qatar, but had announced his intention to depart on the older Air Force One for sentimental reasons.

On July 8, footage captured Trump boarding the presidential jet at Ankara airport. However, according to the Washington Post, he then disembarked onto a catering truck, which had been elevated to the plane's level on the opposite side of his boarding point. He was then covertly transferred to a smaller C-32A military aircraft, a modified Boeing 757 frequently utilized by the vice president.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly boarded the C-32A separately, using external stairs to create the appearance of a normal departure. Journalists and some White House staff boarded Air Force One and were instructed to keep their window shades closed, remaining unaware that the president was no longer aboard. A media pool producer on the plane noted the unusual instruction to keep the shades down, and a photographer who briefly opened a shade was reportedly told to close it immediately.