As a battle rages over Iran, the United States has already amassed a fleet of aircraft and warships in the Middle East. But according to a Wall Street Journal article, the United States has sent combat planes to Israel for the first time in preparation for a possible war mission. The US will use the F-22 Raptors stationed at Israeli air bases to protect American troops and Israeli land from Iranian reprisals.Dennis Ross, a former senior US official, told The Wall Street Journal that flying from Israeli bases is a first.

Why Did the United States Send Jets to Israel?
The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have refused to permit any forces to use their airspace, which is why the combat planes are being deployed. Because of this, the United States has fewer alternatives for basing the aircraft required for a significant operation.
According to the journal, the deployment "is the product of two developments: the growing cooperation between the United States and Israel, and the refusal of so many countries to allow the US to use their bases." Elliott Abrams was the special envoy for Iran during the first Trump administration.He continued, "I have to wonder if, over time, Americans will wonder why we have bases in countries that don't cooperate when we ask."
The Israeli daily said, using open-source flight tracking data and aircraft spotters, that the stealth fighters were seen departing the UK's Lakenheath airbase early on February 24 before making their way to Israel.
Top military officials from the two nations have apparently been in communication, and Israeli authorities are thought to think that a US strike is inevitable. A diplomatic settlement of the dispute would be the "surprise of the year," according to an official cited by Channel 12 news on Tuesday, according to a story by The Times of Israel.

Washington has purposefully maintained a small military presence in Israel for many years out of concern that putting offensive aircraft there permanently might exacerbate tensions in the area. Therefore, in order to handle diplomatic sensitivities in the Middle East, Israel was assigned to the US European Command.
After the Abraham Accords, that calculation changed. With Israel's reassignment to US Central Command in 2021, long-standing operational obstacles were subtly lifted, paving the way for much greater military integration between the US and Israel.
US-Iran Discussions Regarding Tehran's Nuclear Program
In his speech to the joint session of the US Congress on Tuesday night, US President Trump claimed that Iran is developing long-range missiles capable of reaching US territory amid continuing negotiations between the US and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.In his first State of the Union speech of his second term, Trump stated, "They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America." "My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy—but one thing is certain: I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror to have a nuclear weapon," he told Congress.
Iran's foreign ministry reports that in their third round of nuclear negotiations in Geneva, representatives from the US and Iran have so far shared "very constructive" proposals.