President Trump confirmed Wednesday that he’s taking the old Air Force One back to the U.S. from Turkey but deflected questions about security concerns regarding the new Qatari-donated model. 

Trump said the new $400 million Air Force One would be sent home through Europe so soldiers could see it, but he acknowledged he is Iran’s “No. 1 target” when asked about the switch-up. 

“I’m No. 1 on the kill list for Iran,” Trump told the crowd at his press conference in Ankara before leaving the NATO summit.

“I don’t really care because I’m doing my job,” he said, while also joking that he preferred being “No. 1 on TikTok.”

“But I’m No. 1 on the list for killing,” he added.

When a reporter followed up on why he wasn’t taking the new plane, Trump said it was flying to military bases “where we can show it to the people.”

“And we’ll be going home by normal methods,” he said. “But we have it going to Europe to a couple of bases, actually one in particular, but it’s going to a couple of bases so the soldiers can see it because it’s truly magnificent.”

He announced earlier Wednesday that he would send the new plane to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in the United Kingdom and instead would take the older plane.

“To honor our brave men and women of the Military, we are sending the brand new, and truly spectacular, Air Force One to Mildenhall Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom, to give them a chance to tour the Aircraft — Everybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“For old time’s sake, we’ll be taking the former Air Force One, from Turkey to Mildenhall, a short trip that is totally worth doing in order to give our Great Military Heroes a chance to appreciate our beautiful new addition to the Air Force Fleet!” he added.

Throughout his comments at the NATO summit, he repeated that he might be on Iran’s assassination list.

“They had leaders; they’re gone, and they had another set of leaders; they’re gone,” he said. “Now they have another set of leaders, they may be gone, who knows, and you know what, I may be gone too, because I’m their No. 1 target.”

Trump unveiled the retrofitted Qatari plane last month. It’s expected to serve as a “bridge” aircraft in use between the aging Boeing 747-200s that have been used for more than two decades and the two new Boeing planes that were expected in 2024 but won’t be ready until 2028.

The U.S. Air Force said it spent less than $400 million on security upgrades for the plane.

The Associated Press reported last week that the new plane appears not to be equipped with some of the same missile detection and countermeasure systems as the older planes, and one expert told the outlet the Qatari plane seemed better for domestic trips.

It completed one domestic trip to North Dakota last week and was used by the president to fly to Turkey.

Article updated on July 8, 2026 at 4:20 p.m. EDT.