A fighter jet was dispatched on Saturday afternoon after a civilian aircraft inadvertently entered restricted airspace over Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Donald Trump is spending the holiday weekend.
NORAD reports that the pilot flew directly into the no-fly zone just before 2:40 p.m. Eastern. A standard “headbutt” maneuver was employed to capture the pilot’s attention, and the aircraft was safely escorted out of the area.
This incident marked the fourth airspace violation of the day — and it was not the last. NORAD indicates that a fifth incursion occurred later, all within the same restricted zone surrounding Trump’s location.
Their response was swift. NORAD activated its layered defense system — which includes radar, satellites, and fighter jets — to secure the airspace, which is off-limits whenever Trump is in town.
Officials are reminding private pilots to remain vigilant.
“If you’re flying anywhere near Bedminster, NJ, you’d better check NOTAMs 1353, 1358, 2246, and 2247,” stated 1st Air Force on X. “No excuses! Stay sharp, stay legal, and stay out of restricted airspace.”
Last month, a senior Shiite cleric from Iran issued a religious decree targeting President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which some analysts interpreted as an incitement to terrorism.
According to the New York Sun, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi released a fatwa urging Muslims worldwide to take action. The fatwa asserts that any individual or nation opposing or threatening the leadership and unity of the global Islamic community (the Ummah) is deemed a “warlord” or a “mohareb,” defined as someone who wages war against God. Iranian law stipulates that individuals classified as mohareb may face execution, crucifixion, limb amputation, or exile.
“Those who pose a threat to the leadership and integrity of the Islamic Ummah are to be regarded as warlords,” Makarem stated in the ruling. He concluded with a prayer seeking protection from these “enemies” and the prompt return of the Mahdi, a messianic figure in Shiite Islam.
Niyak Ghorbani, a British-Iranian critic, condemned the fatwa as a state-sponsored incitement to global terrorism.
He expressed on his X account that the aggressiveness of the Islamic Republic extends beyond domestic dissent, indicating broader international ambitions for religiously motivated violence.
“The West must understand: the Islamic Republic is not solely targeting its own citizens — it is gearing up for worldwide violence under the guise of religion,” he wrote in the post.
This fatwa was issued following the so-called “12-Day War,” during which American and Israeli forces allegedly inflicted significant damage on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
On June 13, Israel initiated strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites, resulting in the deaths of notable scientists and commanders. In retaliation, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israeli cities. A week later, the United States entered the conflict, targeting three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump has previously cautioned that any further enrichment of uranium by Iran to weapons-grade levels would lead to increased U.S. action. This warning followed a temporary ceasefire that ended 12 days of intense combat.
Last week, Trump claimed that Israeli agents had inspected Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility after recent U.S. airstrikes, reporting the site as “completely destroyed.”
He also warned of taking additional measures if Iran resumed uranium enrichment.
“They have personnel who assess the site post-strike, and they reported it was total destruction,” Trump informed attendees and reporters at a NATO meeting in The Hague this week.
Trump stated that Israel is in the process of conducting a comprehensive damage assessment and implied that Iran had insufficient time to move any materials from the location prior to the strike.
He drew a parallel between the U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s Fordow and Natanz nuclear sites and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, asserting that both had a similarly significant impact in ceasing the conflict.
Throughout the day, Trump’s rhetoric became increasingly intense, as he dismissed the reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) indicating that Iran’s 400kg stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium had gone missing, as noted by Forbes.
