Figure caption, Watch: President Trump secretly switches planes to avoid Iran threatByJessica RawnsleyUpdated 4 hours agoDonald Trump secretly swapped planes as he left a Nato summit in Turkey last month, as part of an elaborate ruse in response to a possible Iranian threat, US media report. The US president boarded Air Force One in view of television cameras before being transported to a military aircraft with the help of a catering truck, the Washington Post said.

Journalists and some White House staff on board did not know he had been smuggled out. Officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the US had detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at the plane.

The White House has not confirmed the secret switch. Trump had earlier said he was Iran's "number one target" during the summit in Ankara.

The clandestine manoeuvre came a day after the US renewed military strikes on Iran following a breakdown of negotiations between Washington and Tehran to end the war. On 8 July, footage showed him boarding the presidential jet at Ankara airport.

But according to the Washington Post, he was then secretly taken to a smaller C-32A military aircraft - a modified Boeing 757 often used by the vice-president - via a catering truck which had been elevated to plane level on the opposite side to where he had boarded. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded the C-32A separately using external stairs in an effort to make the flight appear normal, according to the newspaper.

Journalists and some White House staff boarded Air Force One and were reportedly told to close their window shades. They were unaware the president was no longer on board.

A pool producer who was on the plane said one unusual moment on the flight was the request that members of the press keep the shades down. A photographer briefly opened one and was quickly told to close it and that it was a request from the Secret Service, which guards the president.

The producer, in a report from the White House Correspondents Association provided on Tuesday, also noted there appeared to have been two catering trucks at both the front and back of the plane when the press arrived, and their van had been too far back in the motorcade at the airport be able to take a photo of the president boarding. Technically " Air Force One" is the call sign for any aircraft carrying the US president.

But on this occasion, the C-32A used the call sign " Reach 18", while the aircraft carrying the journalists continued to use " AF1" in order to keep up the ruse. Trump then flew to the UK en route to the US, where he reboarded the old Air Force One and was seen descending from the aircraft after it landed at RAF Mildenhall.