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.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country will strike "every site and every target of the ayatollah regime" in Iran.

Iranian officials have repeatedly denied seeking a nuclear weapon. The United States and Iran have held five rounds of negotiations toward achieving an agreement that would limit Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief, with a sixth round of talks scheduled for Sunday.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he knew all about Israel’s plan ahead of time, that he wasn’t given a mere “heads-up.”

The Israeli military operation against Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities and ballistic missile program and the US reaction has set up a test for US President Donald Trump and his campaign promise to keep the United States out of foreign conflicts.

Israel and Iran opened a new chapter in their long history of conflict when Israel launched a major attack with strikes early Friday that set off explosions in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Israel said it targeted nuclear and military facilities,