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The State Department used a New England Patriots plane as part of its efforts to get Americans out of the Middle East as the joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran entered its seventh day.
Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, posted an X-ray photo showing Americans boarding a charter flight from the Middle East.
The plane, displaying the Patriots logo and colors, landed in Washington, D.C. on Friday morning, according to the State Department.
A source told Pak Gazette Digital that the Patriots “encourage” the charter company that operates the team’s planes “to use them for missions like this and other humanitarian and national interest missions” when the planes are not being used by the team. (State Department via X)
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“Americans boarding one of the many State Department charter flights leaving the Middle East for the United States,” Johnson wrote in X. “This plane landed safely this morning in Washington.”
A source told Pak Gazette Digital that the Patriots “encourage” the charter company that operates the team’s planes “to use them for missions like this and other humanitarian and national interest missions” when the planes are not being used by the team.
The New England Patriots team plane delivers N95 masks from Shenzhen, China, to Logan International Airport in Boston on April 2, 2020, to help slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
The Associated Press reported Friday that the Patriots plane was the second flight of its kind to land at Dulles International Airport outside Washington. The NFL team reportedly did not pay for or arrange the flight.
Johnson said Friday that 24,000 U.S. citizens “have safely returned to the United States from the Middle East” since Feb. 28, noting that the figure does not include Americans who have moved to other countries or are still en route to the United States.
President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday that the United States is removing “thousands of people” from the Middle East.
“We are moving thousands of people out of various Middle Eastern countries. This is being done quietly but smoothly,” he wrote on Friday. “The State Department, Undersecretary Marco Rubio, is doing a great job!”
President Donald Trump listens during an event on the Taxpayer Protection Pledge in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington. (Jacquelyn MartÃn/AP Photo)
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The State Department has urged Americans who need help leaving the Middle East to call its 24/7 hotline at +1-202-501-4444.
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