Trump's Secret Airport Dash Was Based on 'Low Confidence' Israeli Intel, U.S. Officials Say

The Iranian threats against Donald Trump's life that prompted an elaborate security maneuver in Turkey came from Israeli intelligence, not the U.S. government, and American officials never independently verified them.

That's according to reporting from Reuters and the Washington Post, which together lay out a picture significantly murkier than the one initially presented to the public. A current U.S. official and two former officials told Reuters that Washington received several warnings from Israel over the past year claiming Iran intended to assassinate the president. U.S. intelligence could not confirm any of them.

The Washington Post reported separately that U.S. intelligence officials were skeptical of the specific Iranian assassination threat that triggered the Turkey episode. One U.S. official described the underlying intelligence to the Post in blunt terms: "Israeli-derived, not U.S.-generated, and viewed as low confidence."

What actually happened in Turkey

According to the Washington Post's Monday report, Trump secretly left Air Force One in Ankara, was moved in the back of a catering truck alongside aide Natalie Harp, and boarded an alternative aircraft to continue on to London. The maneuver was carried out as a security precaution tied to the assassination threat.

The scale of that operation, an unscheduled diversion involving the sitting U.S. president, underscores how seriously the threat was treated in the moment, even as officials now say the intelligence behind it was thin and impossible to corroborate independently.

Why this matters

The gap between the drama of the response and the weakness of the intelligence behind it raises an uncomfortable question: how much influence does Israeli intelligence have over decisions affecting the movements and security posture of the U.S. president, and by extension American Iran policy, when that intelligence cannot be verified by U.S. agencies themselves.

This is not the first time Israeli-sourced intelligence has shaped major U.S. actions before being confirmed independently. When a foreign intelligence service supplies the threat assessment that drives presidential security decisions, and American agencies cannot check the work, it hands significant leverage to that foreign government over how Washington perceives and responds to Iran.

Neither the White House nor Israeli officials have publicly disputed the characterization reported by Reuters and the Washington Post. Occupation Watch is treating the sourcing, current and former U.S. officials speaking on background, as credible but not final; formal confirmation from named officials or documentary evidence has not yet emerged.

The episode adds to a growing pattern documented by U.S. outlets: Israeli-origin threat assessments reaching Washington that carry outsized weight in shaping American security and foreign policy responses, despite U.S. intelligence's own inability to stand behind them.