The Russians appear to have given the Americans last-minute notice…A tightening of Russian-Iranian security cooperation will be seen by Saudi Arabia and Israel as a threat, and since those two countries have the most powerful lobbies in Washington, it will view the development as threatening, as well.

It looks like the Russians and Iranians did the U.S. a favor. If they had told us ahead of time, there would have been pressure from the Saudis and Israelis to try and stop the operation.