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 two powers have been exchanging barrages since Israel attacked Iran and killed many of the country’s top military leaders and scientists.

Iran has launched retaliatory missile strikes on Israel, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, after a series of blistering Israeli attacks on the heart of Iran’s nuclear program and its armed forces.