New Delhi, March 2 -- The operation - a joint undertaking between the United States and Israel, code-named Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion - was, by any measure, the largest aerial assault ever carried out by the Israeli military. It was also the culmination of a strategy that was, from the outset, running two tracks at once: diplomacy and war, in parallel.

According to accounts reported by Axios, the joint operation emerged from a two-month strategy in which Washington DC simultaneously pursued nuclear negotiations with Iran while preparing for large-scale military action.

Officials cited by Axios described the crisis as "vintage Trump - full of twists, last-minute reversals and deliberate disinformation," with uncertainty itself...