Iran has reportedly been sending signals to Israel and the U.S. through Arab intermediaries as it looks to de-escalate the conflict and resume talks over the nuclear deals. Tehran has reached out to Arab officials and said they would be willing to come back to the table as long as the U.

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.

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.