Netanyahu, Trump planned Iran strike far in advance, ran deception campaign

- The article alleges that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and former US President Donald Trump coordinated a strike on Iran well ahead of time, and conducted a deliberate deception campaign to conceal their preparations. - This relates to the long-running shadow war between Israel and Iran, centered on Iran's nuclear program, its support for proxies like Hezbollah, and Israel's repeated strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria and elsewhere. - Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general killed in a US drone strike in January 2020, was a key architect of Iran's regional military strategy. The article implies the strike may have been the January 2020 assassination or a broader planned operation. - The "deception campaign" refers to public signals or leaks suggesting a different stance than what was actually being planned — a common tactic in intelligence and military operations. - Any specific operational details remain unconfirmed, and reporting on secret coordination between allied leaders is inherently based on unnamed sources and leaks.