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.

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.

The United States has pulled some diplomatic staff and military families out of the Middle East, citing unspecified regional security risks.

The conflict, the most intense fighting between the two countries in decades, has been met in the United States with feelings of “frustration and helplessness,” as well as heartbreak.

Countries trade strikes as tensions grow over larger Middle East conflict - Iranian missiles struck an apartment building in the Galilee region, killing four people, as the countries exchanged fire

Iranian officials said on Friday that the United States "shall be held fully accountable" for its support of Israel after the nation took out key Iranian nuclear facilities and killed government leaders in a series of air strikes this week.

National security experts warn that Israel's attack on Iran shows why Chinese land and asset purchases in the U.S. pose a significant threat to American security.