Israel Shared Intelligence on a Specific Iranian Plot to Kill Trump. The Secret Service Quietly Changed His Plane.

Since this story emerged July 9, the timeline has sharpened around two concrete developments: new Israeli intelligence describing a specific Iranian assassination plot against Trump, and an unusual mid-trip plane switch that the Secret Service quietly requested during the NATO summit in Ankara.

What the Intelligence Actually Says

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported Thursday that Israel shared intelligence with the United States describing a "fresh" plot by Iran to kill Trump. CNN, also citing unnamed sources, added that Washington has tracked "a steady drumbeat" of such threat intelligence for months, but that the Israeli warning was distinguished by its specificity.

Israel's embassy in Washington declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal. Iran's Mission to the United Nations did not respond. The White House, when contacted by AFP, pointed reporters to Trump's own public remarks rather than confirming or denying the intelligence's contents.

Those remarks were not subtle. "I'm No. 1 on the kill list for Iran," Trump told reporters in Ankara on Wednesday. "I like being number one on TikTok better." He returned to the subject multiple times during the summit, telling reporters aboard Air Force One: "They want to take out the U.S. leader, me. I'm on every single one of their lists."

The Plane Switch

Trump flew to Ankara aboard the new Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar, which was making its maiden foreign trip as a presidential aircraft. He then switched to one of the legacy VC-25A jets, which have served as Air Force One for more than three decades, for the leg from Ankara to RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom. He switched back to the newer aircraft for the transatlantic leg home.

The New York Times reported Wednesday night that the switch was made at the request of the U.S. Secret Service "as a security precaution."

Turkey borders Iran. The U.S. was actively striking Iranian assets during this period. The timing of those strikes and the proximity of the summit location to Iranian territory are facts the intelligence community would have been weighing.

Trump publicly offered a different explanation: that the newer jet was sent ahead to RAF Mildenhall so American troops stationed there could tour it. "It could be that simple," said Bill Gage, a former Secret Service special agent who told Fox News Digital he has traveled on dozens of presidential and vice presidential foreign trips. Gage added, however, that he had "never seen a plane switch up" in the middle of an overseas visit.

The White House has not said whether the Israeli intelligence played any role in the aircraft decision.

Iran's Public Posture

The threat is not merely an intelligence abstraction. According to the Jerusalem Post, crowds gathered Thursday in Mashhad for the funeral cortege of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei chanted "I swear by the blood of the Supreme Leader, Trump, we will kill you." Women held placards reading "Kill Trump." The old revolutionary slogan "Death to America" echoed through the streets.

Tehran has threatened retaliation for Trump's January 2020 order to kill Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. That stated motive has never gone away. Trump acknowledged it directly in Ankara: "They had leaders, they're gone, and they had another set of leaders, they're gone. Now they have another set of leaders, they may be gone."

The Strongest Counter-Argument

Skeptics have legitimate grounds to ask whether Trump's public declarations about assassination plots serve a political function beyond pure security disclosure. A president who repeatedly volunteers that he is Iran's top target, at a NATO summit, in front of cameras, shapes a narrative that casts him as a wartime figure under existential threat. That framing has obvious domestic political value. The intelligence itself remains classified, the sourcing is anonymous, and neither Israel nor the White House has put anything on the record beyond pointing to Trump's own comments.

The concern is real. It does not, however, make the threat implausible. Iran's public vows of revenge for Soleimani are documented. The Mashhad funeral chants are documented. And the Secret Service, an apolitical protective agency, does not request mid-trip aircraft swaps for theatrical reasons.

Netanyahu Call and the Broader Picture

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone Thursday night, according to the Jerusalem Post. Trump briefed Netanyahu on U.S. military moves in the Gulf. Netanyahu, per the same report, warned Trump against approving the proposed F-35 sale to Turkey and raised concerns about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comments challenging Israel's existence. No in-person meeting between Trump and Netanyahu is currently planned, a White House official confirmed to Israeli outlet Walla.

The unresolved question hanging over all of this: the intelligence described a "specific" plot, according to CNN, but what that specificity entails—whether it involves named operatives, a method, a timeline—has not been disclosed. That gap matters. Threat intelligence that is specific enough to alter a presidential flight plan mid-trip is qualitatively different from general hostile rhetoric, and the public has no way to evaluate which category this falls into.