Donald Trump flies from an ultralight field to Palm Beach hours after ordering strikes on Iran

Donald Trump flew N757AF from an ultralight airpark in Delaware — a brief stop that likely was a short hop from a Washington-area airport that does not appear in his recent flight log — to Palm Beach International on Wednesday afternoon, landing at 18:01 UTC after a 46-minute flight.

The return to his Florida home base comes the same day Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the United States would strike Iran again after overnight exchanges of fire, saying, per the BBC and Al-Monitor's coverage, "We hit them hard yesterday and we're going to hit them hard again today." The escalation followed what Trump said was Iran's downing of a U.S. Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards retaliating by striking bases in Jordan and the Gulf. The White House also announced Wednesday that Trump signed the nearly $70 billion Secure America Act, funding ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of his term, as WJLA reported.

Wednesday's return to Palm Beach follows a pattern: Trump's other recent flights show a regular shuttle between the Washington, D.C., area — Dulles or a general-aviation field — and Palm Beach, where his Mar-a-Lago residence is based. The 757 typically spends weekends or breaks in the legislative calendar there. This trip, however, arrives amid a drumbeat of military and legislative news that kept him in the Oval Office through lunchtime.