According to the Associated Press report on August 6, a U.S. official said that more than a dozen F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier have flown to a military base in the Middle East as part of the Pentagon's efforts to help Israel defend against possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and protect U.S. troops. The official said that the F/A-18 and an E-2D Hawkeye reconnaissance aircraft took off from the aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Oman and arrived at the undisclosed base on the 5th.