Amid ongoing strikes between Israel and Iran, Trump is publicly and privately making clear his desire to keep the United States out of the fray for now.

Israel and Iran exchange missile attacks for a third day; nuclear sites hit, death tolls rise, airspace shut, U.S. warns Tehran against retaliation.

Shapiro served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East until January—charged with, among other things, considering scenarios in which tensions between Israel and Iran escalated into all-out war and preparing U.