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.

Arab states across the Middle East condemned Israel’s attacks on Iran, calling them a violation of Iran’s sovereignty and security that threatened to further destabilize the region. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates—which sit across the Persian Gulf from Iran and host U.