[Goose]

There are rumors that the US informed Russia of the strikes ahead of time and that Russia informed Iran.

I am not surprised that the US would inform Russia of the strikes. Iran is very close to Russian territory. Informing Russia that B-2s would be operating against Iran would hopefully ensure that if Russia detected the bombers it would not assume it was a US strike directed at Russia. To what extent Russia would be able to detect the B-2s is unknown (by me anyway), but given their attempts at bi-static UHF radar it is probable they have some capability.
 
As far as Russia "informing" Iran, if it happened I would put it under the category of stating the obvious. Iran had to assume the US was going to attack these nuclear sites and been on "full alert" until it became clear we weren't going to do it. The administration's "within the next two weeks" for the "decision" would have meant exactly nothing to the Iranians. Iran could do nothing about the strike itself however, so knowing it was imminent would be of almost zero utility to them.
 
I find it somewhat amusing that the pundits are giving the administration all kinds of "credit" for a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians. The only people being deceived was the US and European public. Operationally Iran had to know that such a strike was possible at any time. There wouldn't necessarily have been an "announcement" preceding it. Furthermore Iran certainly didn't know the location of every one of our 19 B-2s with any accuracy. Give that, a strike could be executed at any time and Iran had to "be prepared" under that assumption. It appears they took what preparatory steps they could well before the strike was launched. After doing that, there was little more Iran could do. They so far apparently have shot down no Israeli planes, gen 4 or gen 5. They had nothing flying that could threaten a B-2. When the strike did arrive, I am sure was not at all "surprised".

[Goose]

There are rumors that the US informed Russia of the strikes ahead of time and that Russia informed Iran.

I am not surprised that the US would inform Russia of the strikes. Iran is very close to Russian territory. Informing Russia that B-2s would be operating against Iran would hopefully ensure that if Russia detected the bombers it would not assume it was a US strike directed at Russia. To what extent Russia would be able to detect the B-2s is unknown (by me anyway), but given their attempts at bi-static UHF radar it is probable they have some capability.
 
As far as Russia "informing" Iran, if it happened I would put it under the category of stating the obvious. Iran had to assume the US was going to attack these nuclear sites and been on "full alert" until it became clear we weren't going to do it. The administration's "within the next two weeks" for the "decision" would have meant exactly nothing to the Iranians. Iran could do nothing about the strike itself however, so knowing it was imminent would be of almost zero utility to them.
 
I find it somewhat amusing that the pundits are giving the administration all kinds of "credit" for a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians. The only people being deceived was the US and European public. Operationally Iran had to know that such a strike was possible at any time. There wouldn't necessarily have been an "announcement" preceding it. Furthermore Iran certainly didn't know the location of every one of our 19 B-2s with any accuracy. Give that, a strike could be executed at any time and Iran had to "be prepared" under that assumption. It appears they took what preparatory steps they could well before the strike was launched. After doing that, there was little more Iran could do. They so far apparently have shot down no Israeli planes, gen 4 or gen 5. They had nothing flying that could threaten a B-2. When the strike did arrive, I am sure was not at all "surprised".