Ankara: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied that security concerns were behind his decision to use an older Air Force One for part of his return trip from the NATO summit in Ankara, Trkiye. Trump clarified that a newer aircraft, gifted by Qatar, flew ahead to Mildenhall Royal Air Force Base in the UK so military personnel could see it.

According to Anadolu Agency, Trump explained on his Truth Social platform that the visit was at "the entire Base's request" and involved "virtually no deviation of flightpath." When questioned about whether security concerns prompted the change, Trump replied, "No, why would there be?" dismissing any notion that the aircraft had mechanical issues.

Trump elaborated that the decision to send the aircraft early was to allow the entire base to view it, stating, "The base, the whole base came out and saw the plane, and then we landed," during a conversation aboard the new Air Force One. He then transferred to the new plane for the second leg of his journey back to the US.

After initially departing Trkiye on the older Air Force One instead of the newly renovated Qatari-donated jet, Trump switched to the new aircraft in the UK for the remainder of the flight to Washington. While Trump acknowledged facing credible threats from Iran "all the time," he did not confirm any new threats on Wednesday following US retaliatory strikes against the country.

When asked about reporters being instructed to close window shades in the press cabin during the flight from Trkiye to the UK, Trump commented, "You know, you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags that we have to deal with." He added, "They didn't ask me to close mine, but if they did, I would have done it. These are sick people, so I could see something like that. I didn't know they did that."