While the U.S. insists it is not involved in strikes on Iran, American officials have confirmed military forces have been helping to intercept Iranian missiles fired at Israel.

Spokane-born retired American diplomat Ryan Crocker anticipates the conflict between Israel and Iran will escalate in the coming days.

The retaliatory strikes came on Saturday, a day after Israel killed top Iranian military leaders and scientists and destroyed an aboveground nuclear enrichment plant near Natanz.

The Israelis had the opportunity to assassinate Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Trump conveyed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it wasn't a good idea, one U.S. official told CBS News.

The U.S. was represented at the UN Security Council's emergency session on Friday by State Department Senior Bureau Official McCoy Pitt, who said the U.S. was advised by Israel that the actions carried out against Iran overnight were "necessary for its self-defense."

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

The United States is the main international backer of Israel, Iran's biggest regional foe. It is also a close ally of Sunni Gulf monarchies which for years pursued their own rivalry with the Islamic Republic, seeing it as their main regional threat.