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 strikes came after the Israeli military said it had carried out fresh strikes on Iran nuclear infrastructure sites.

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 president who promised to easily and quickly bring about peace has now found himself accounting for yet another major escalation. President Donald Trump had publicly discouraged Israel from striking Iran in recent days,

Smoke and flames filled the sky over Tehran as Israel struck oil and gas facilities in the Iranian capital and targeted more nuclear facilities during attacks that carried on into Sunday after starting two days earlier.

Israel’s leader and President Trump appeared to bet they can persevere, but other world leaders warned of unintended outcomes in a volatile region.

Mollie Hemingway, the editor in chief of The Federalist, warned that an escalation with Iran would cost Trump “really polling support that would be permanent,” and it would be seen as a “powerful gift” to the president’s “political enemies who still seek to destroy him and the movement he leads.”

The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza and aid access, after the United States vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council last week.