State Department uses Patriots team plane to evacuate Americans from Middle East

A New England Patriots plane was used by the State Department as part of its efforts to move Americans out of the Middle East as the U.S.-Israeli joint military campaign against Iran entered its seventh day. 

Dylan Johnson, the assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, posted a photo on X showing Americans boarding a charter flight out of the Middle East. 

The plane, displaying the Patriots logo and colors, landed in Washington, D.C., Friday morning, according to the State Department. 

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"Americans boarding one of the many State Department charter flights leaving the Middle East to the U.S.," Johnson wrote on X. "This plane landed safely this morning in Washington."

A source told Fox News Digital the Patriots "encourage" the charter company that operates the team planes "​​to use them for missions like this and other humanitarian and national interest type missions" when the planes are not being used by the team.  

The Associated Press reported Friday that the Patriots plane was the second such flight to land at Dulles International Airport outside Washington. The NFL team reportedly did not pay for or arrange the flight.

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Johnson said Friday that 24,000 American citizens "have safely returned to the United States from the Middle East" since Feb. 28, noting that the figure did not include Americans who have relocated to other countries or are still en route to the U.S.  

President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post Friday that the U.S. is moving "thousands of people" out of the Middle East. 

"We are moving thousands of people out of various Countries throughout the Middle East. It is being done quietly, but seamlessly," he wrote Friday. "The State Department, under Secretary Marco Rubio, is doing a great job!"

The State Department has urged Americans in need of assistance getting out of the Middle East to call its 24/7 hotline at +1-202-501-4444.

Fox News Digital's Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.

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