Here is what I think happened. After the attack on the embassy - consumed by comparisons to Benghazi - Trump decided he need to teach Iran a lesson. There was no intelligence operation - Soleimani took few precautions
And under any previous president he did not need to. Bush and Obama had a strict “not Soleimani policy.” So it came down to a serious misreading of the situation by Tehran. But you have to understand knowkedge of the US is razor thin in Iran
Something that was very obvious to me in a visit three months ago and also in a conversation with an Iranian deputy foreign minister in Astana recently
